Legendary PKMN: Arc Three- Shadows
by Cataclyptic
Summary: Third arc in the series! This time the gang heads to Almia in order to kick major nose! Strange things are happening, conspirators are... conspiring, and above all, shocking secrets will be revealed...
1. Another stupid episode

_Dear Erma-chan,_

_I have received your E-mail some time ago, sorry for being so tardy to reply. I've have read it thoroughly and trust your judgment that Legendaries are needed for this assignment._

_That said, sadly I cannot send any over. All class Four's still have to stay inside the Hall in case of Absolix or, as you may have heard, Kurades. Not only this, but most of the class Three Legendaries are out on duty. The only two available that I could send you would be Reshiram and Zekrom when they return, but you know how rowdy they can be._

_And yes, they did take over Unova, but now Dialga and Rayquaza have the situation under control. We are trying to fix its name change as of my writing this._

_However, I have a plan that could potentially work for both of us. I will be sending you some Pokemon approximately one week from now, you will understand it then._

_They may not be Legendary yet, but after inspection I am confident that they can get your problem solved._

_-Arceus D. Omnirector_

* * *

><p>Chapter thirty six: Another stupid episode in which Darkrai tries to destroy the world for some stupid reason which leads to yet another misadventure trying to stop him before it's too late because then disastrous consequences would follow. Why is this title so long? Because I can't come up with anything better. Seriously, YOU try doing this crap for three whole arcs. It gets tiring. I think I might quit again. NO ONE LOVES ME! WHY DOES EVERYONE HATE ME? WHY WHY WHY!<p>

**_*The author has now been sedated. We apologize for any damage he may have done. This is just what happens when he gets off his meds.*_**

* * *

><p>A blue eye opened.<p>

"He's awake!" a voice yelled excitably. Darkrai blinked around, his vision clearing up by the second. Soon he was able to make out his mother, his sister and his brother Palkia.

"Where's Zero!" said Darkrai immediately, wondering what happened to him.

"He is under Kairi's custody." Arceus assured him. "Shortly after you were saved by Mewtwo you fainted on the spot. You've been out for a day."

Darkrai breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now that that's all said and done… YOU COMPLETELY BROKE YOR CURFEW!" Arceus yelled loudly with Hyper Voice. "Not only this but you almost got killed because of your disobedience!"

"Yeah, brother isn't too smart." Cresselia smirked.

"HEY YOU BROKE THE CURFEW TOO!" Darkrai argued. But Arceus would have none of it and ignored his comment.

"Your punishment will be decided later. For now, school." Arceus stamped her hoof, signaling the meetings end. Palkia however argued that perhaps Darkrai should stay at home since he had only just woken up from a one day sleep.

"Nonsense! Have you any idea how much school he's missed!" Arceus glared at her son.

"Well but on the other hand that is because he's been fighting a lot of strong enemies. Not to mention an alien invaXion."

"Don't care. He's going to school because he feels fine, right Darkrai!" Arceus asked.

"Actually I'm not feeling so-"

"What was her name? LOPUNNY IS AT SCHOOL DARKRAI!" yelled God.

A Dark Void later and Darkrai had disappeared to Tajiri. Arceus, satisfied, left Darkrai's room and beckoned Palkia and Cresselia to come with her.

"Besides, today _is _the last day of school."

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE AT TAJIRI<strong>

"Well… that was an adventure." Gliscor shrugged. Malispite and Mercifond, opposite to him, nodded. Beside them were Gardevoir, Ruby and Gallade.

"Yeah! We kicked Toymans' butt!" Ruby pumped her fist into the air.

"Yeah… where did he go to anyway?" Malispite asked, suspicious. Toyman had mysteriously disappeared after the Zero incident, gone without a trace. All that he left behind was a broken mask.

"Darkrai's going to be disappointed…" Mercifond sighed. Arceus had announced that Zero was captured yesterday as Darkrai slept. She told only a few Pokemon, but the rumors spread like wildfire that a class Two had defeated the feared Zero Misturashi. Unfortunately, somehow along the way, the rumors changed from Darkrai defeating Zero to Pikachu defeating Zero.

"All hail Pikachu!" several girls cheered in the hallway next to theirs.

"Seriously, how did that even happen?" asked Gliscor, confused. This earned shrugs from many.

"Hey, didn't Arceus say that Darkrai would be here for the last day of school?" questioned Gardevoir.

A black wormhole opened up and spat Darkrai out, who collided with a locker. Unfazed, he pried himself from the metal and shouted for Lopunny as loud as he could.

"There he is." Mercifond said.

"YOU." Malispite beckoned.

"YOU!"

And, as per usual, Darkrai and Malispite punched each other as hard as they could in the face. Everyone turned to Mercifond to see how she would react, but by this point the white bat had simply given up on the whole issue.

"Anyway guys, I have an idea to make Lopunny love me!" announced Darkrai.

"By pretending to not be ugly?" chuckled Malispite.

"NO. I'm going to tell her that I was the one who beat Zero! Then she will love me for sure!" announced Darkrai proudly. However, he soon heard the cried of delight about Pikachu beating Zero in the preceding hallway. Questioning this, the others were forced to tell Darkrai of the bad news.

When it was over, a silence overcame Darkrai. Without word, he reached into his red collar and pulled out a cellphone. After dialing some numbers, the call went through.

_"Hello?" _asked the voice on the other side.

"Hey Mewtwo." Darkrai said calmly, much to the surprise of everyone around him. "I need you to kill somebody."

_"Oh boy!"_ said Mewtwo on the other side. _"Do you mind if I do it with lasers or acids? I can go for either one really!"_

However, on the other side Arceus voice bellowed that Mewtwo was still grounded. Thus, God used her vast powers of inter-dimensional warping to cease the cell phone connection. "Damn…" Darkrai narrowed his eyes. "I guess I'll have to do it myself."

Arceus' hologram came into view. "Oh by the way, no killing Pokemon today!" it vanished.

"DAMNIT! HOW DARE THAT PIKACHU STEAL MY VICTORY! I SHALL GET REVENGE UPON HIM SOMEHOW!"

"Darkrai, please!" Mercifond blared. "Can we just have a normal school day for once without your antics screwing up everything!"

"She has a point." concurred Gallade. "After all, today is the last day of school."

"Yes." Gardevoir agreed. "After this, we get summer break."

"Oh yeah!" Malispite and Gliscor said. "Looking forward to that!"

Now, many Pokemon would look forward to summer break as an escape from tedious schoolwork. In this however, Darkrai wasn't. Thinking it over quickly, he realized what this starling fact meant. "You mean… I won't be able to see Lopunny for three whole months?"

"…Uh…"

"NOOOO!" Darkrai became so sad that he broke through the brick building, leaving the rest of the group behind. Gliscor attempted to pursue his friend but he was stopped by Mercifond.

"No! It doesn't matter, he'll get over it anyway!" she said angrily. "Let's just attend classes and the after school party. We will NOT get caught up in his ridiculousness! I just want a normal day for once!"

"But sis, you're the Chosen One! Why would you want to be normal after getting those cool powers?" Malispite questioned.

"Because the last time I used my powers I summoned a weirdo with a crush on me!"

"Oh yeah… I'm going to kill him the next time I see him." Malispite growled, remembering Anarchaoss.

"Exactly. And I have a boyfriend anyway…" mumbled the white bat.

"What?" asked Malispite.

"Nothing." She and the rest of the group said in unison. They had to prevent Malispite from learning about Mercifond's secret boyfriend or else Malispite could get violent…

"Well alright… to class then?" Gliscor asked. Leaving Darkrai to his own problems, the group went to their respective classes.

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE WITH DARKRAI<strong>

Darkrai had turned himself into a shadow, and sat in the abyss of his shade. He was comically crying for his beloved brown haired rabbit, yet he was powerless to prevent summer from happening.

"How can this be…!" Darkrai mumbled. "Why! Why must I be without my one true love for three whole months!"

**DUDE, JUST FIND ANOTHER CHICK. IT'S NOT THAT HARD.**

"Oh shut up Narrator!" shouted Darkrai. "And just who could I expect to replace her, huh?"

**HM… WELL THERE'S ALWAYS GARDEVOIR**

"Wha-what!" Darkrai gasped, turning a bit red. "She's my childhood friend! No way!"

**GOOD POINT, BESIDES ITS CLEAR THAT SHE BELONGS WITH GALLADE. I TOOK A SNEAK PEEK AT THE AUTHOR'S FOOTNOTES AND THAT APPEARS TO BE WHERE ITS HEADED. MAYBE.**

"Really! What does it say about who I end up with?" Darkrai asked eagerly.

**HM… I BELIVE IT WAS MALISPITE. YES, IT WAS DEFINITELY MALISPITE. **

Darkrai banged his head against the wall. This was by far the worst day of his life- not only was he about to lose his love for three whole months but also the author had decided to pair him with Malispite. Truly, the worst day ever.

However, it wasn't like Darkrai could simple stop time from moving forwards. It was imposs-

Darkrai stopped in mid thought.

_"Ha-ha!"_ a voice suddenly said from within Darkrai's mind. _"I, Asmodeus, finally have enough energy to talk to you directly! NOW GIVE ME YOR BODY!"_

"No." Darkrai replied. "Anyway, I have a great idea for how to keep Lopunny from going away AND to keep the author make me fall in love with Malispite!"

_"That b*tch? Lay it on me."_

"I will travel to Temporal Tower and steal the Time Gears from Dialga! From there, I will freeze all of time so that today will never end AND I WILL BE WITH LOPUNNY FOREVER!"

There was a pause.

_"That has got to be the second worst self-destructive plan that I have ever heard that will inevitably end in disaster."_ Asmodeus declared. _"I am behind you 100%. DO IT."_

"Second worst?"

_"Did I mention Absolix was my drinking buddy? Crazy sh*t when he drinks man."_

"Oh… I shall go to Temporal Tower immediately!"

_"Yeah, and how do you plan to get there? The gateway to Temporal Tower is only open when the planets align. And what are the odds of that-"_

Suddenly, the planets aligned perfectly and a beam of yellow light was sent to Earth, the beam created a silvery white gateway that lead to Temporal Tower.

_"…"_

**I KNOW MAN, I KNOW.**

* * *

><p>"Cresselia, do you know why I am letting you skip school today?"<p>

"Actually no…" Cresselia replied, a bit nervous because her record of perfect attendance was at stake. Arceus had led her up to the library on floor 73, apparently having something important to say.

"It is because I am going to make you an official Legendary."

At this, Cresselia nearly fainted from hearing those words spoken. Her yellow beak was gaped and Cresselia's eyes were widened, gazing at her mom and realizing she was serious. "You're… you're really going to make me a-a Legendary?"

"Maybe." Arceus said. "It all depends on how well you do on the test I am about to present you."

"Test? Bring it on! I'll definitely succeed!" Cresselia said, determined to make her mother proud. Arceus paused, then told her the requirements.

"Creselia, if you pass this test then you will become an official Legendary." Arceus stated. "But should you fail… then you will never become one. Even if another chance arises, should you fail this test you will never become an official Legendary. Is that clear?"

This made the purple swan nervous, but she bucked up and gazed fiercely at her mom. Cresselia would simply have to pass the test- after all she was perfect so no matter what she would not fail.

"Cresselia, your task to become an official Legendary…" Arceus announced in a regal voice.

"Is to implant a seal upon Darkrai that will send him to a different dimension."

Cresselia's smile quickly grew weary. She stared at her mom, who was dead serious. In a hesitant voice, she asked "What?"

"Cresselia… the truth is, we can no longer deal with Darkrai's cursed abilities." Arceus explained. "His nightmares powers grow stronger with each passing day. Not only this, but we cannot risk Asmodeus being revived into this world. Thus, I and the Council have come to an agreement upon the matter.

Using a special seal, we will trap Darkrai in another dimension. He will… be forced to remain there until we can create a cure for his nightmares. I think that we can negate his powers in about twenty years or so…"

"You… are you serious?" Cresselia said, a bead of sweat dripping down her yellow face. "We- We're going to send my brother into another dimension?"

"In order to make sure he can't afflict anyone with nightmares." Arceus concluded. "Don't worry, we know a good dimension full of food and water. He will simply be by himself for about twenty years or so."

Cresselia simply stared at her mother, who sighed. "I know this may seem like a daunting task… but if you succeed, then we will recognize you as an official legendary. If not… well, we'll have to renounce you and think of another way to imprison Darkrai.

I will give you an hour to prepare. Meet me on the ninety ninth floor to receive the seal."

* * *

><p>"Hey, where's my sister?" questioned Malispite. They had come out of class only to find that Mercifond was missing. Naturally, Mercifond had told everyone but Malispite where she was going- to see her secret boyfriend one final time before summer began.<p>

"Uh… I don't know…" Gliscor said nervously.

"Um yeah!" Gardevoir agreed. "She's probably not with her secret boyfriend right now!"

"Definitely!" said Gallade, keeping up the charades. Malispite (somehow) bought it. He looked left and right for his sister, but no response. The last school party was in an hour or so, thus Mercifond needed to be found.

"Is she really planning on missing the party?" Malispite growled. "Tch. She probably got lost or something, I should go look-"

Suddenly and without warning, a rip appeared in the fabric of reality. A large white and purple portal tore open space and time and deposited a kneeling figure before the group. The portal disappeared, and the figure stood up its full height. Everyone in the room gasped when they saw who it was.

"Impossible! Future Malispite!"

Indeed, it was Malispite from two weeks into the future. He appeared the same as last time, with battle scars all over his body and one eye missing. He looked at them all, a dead serious look on his face.

"I have traveled back in time to give you all a warning!" said the future brown bat. "At one o-clock today Darkrai is planning on pretty much ending the world! So before then, stop him and his plot!"

Everyone paused.

"…what time is it now?" future Malispite asked.

"Three."

"ARCEUS V****ING DAMN IT! I HATE TIME TRAVEL!" future Malispite yelled angrily. "Damn! That means Darkrai has already begun…!"

"Wh-what do you mean Darkrai is planning on ending the world?" Gardevoir asked, afraid. Seeing as how he had no other choice, future Malispite beckoned them all to sit and told them his story.

On this day in his timeline, Darkrai had decided to steal all of the time gears and place them in temporal tower for the sole purpose of stopping time completely. Why? So that summer never began and he could keep seeing Lopunny.

Blinding by his ambition, Darkrai failed to realize that once time had permanently stopped for all inanimate objects, there was no more sunlight, plants, or even video games to play. Thus the world was heading towards an inevitable demise due to everyone starving.

And also due to lack of Modern Warfare 3.

"Gasp!" Gallade said. "That fiend! Stopping all of time just to be with the woman you love…!"

Gallade paused.

"Actually… I think I'd do the same for Gardevoir."

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!" future Malispite shouted at Gallade. "Now look! We need to find Darkrai before he gets-"

* * *

><p>"ALL THE TIME GEARS!" Darkrai yelled happily. "After two hours of searching I finally found all the Time Gears!" he said, holding up five glittering green mechanical parts.<p>

_"Sick. But what do you do now?"_

"Easy." smirked Darkrai. "I'll just ascend the rainbow staircase and put them in the tower. From there, I'll be able to manipulate time however I please! Namely stopping it forever!"

_"Mn."_ said Asmodeus from within Darkrai. _"Not that I am not loving this plan, but is it really to get Lopunny? Seems pretty pointless if you ask me."_

"What?"

_"Dude, she doesn't even know you freaking exist. It would be pointless to say that she would love you after freezing time. Unless of course you make her your b*tch and force her to love you. If so, I'm game for that."_

"I would never-!" said Darkrai, horrified.

_"Pansy. I told you before- we're beings of darkness. No one could possibly love us unless we forced them to."_ Asmodeus retorted _"Believe me, no one could possibly…"_

All of a sudden, for just an instant, Darkrai saw a strange image in his mind. For a split second, he thought he saw a much older looking Gardevoir and Gallade dressed in fancy clothes.

"What was…?"

_"That was nothing!"_ said Asmodeus quickly. _"Whatever, do what you want. All I care about is taking you over."_

"To Temporal Tower!"

* * *

><p><strong>TEMPORAL TOWER<strong>

"Alright people, we have to wrap this up as quickly as possible!" said a seviper wearing a director's hat. He and his film crew had already traveled through the rainbow staircase and had reached the top of Temporal Tower.

"I need my actors! Where is Dialga, we need him for this scene!"

"Here I am!" said Dialga, warping to the tower. He had applied actor's makeup on, his skin was dark blue, his grey tones were orange, and overall he had a more fearsome look about him than normal.

"The masking has been applied sir!" said a female Wigglytuff who came in with Dialga.

"Excellent. Dialga, over here!"

Dialga, like most of the Legendaries, had a part time job in addition to being a Legendary. He happened to be a movie actor as well, and after some job applications had finally nailed a part as the main villain in a movie.

"Alright listen quickly because we have to film fast!" said the seviper in a hurry. "This is the final fight of the movie _Pokemon Mystery Dungeon- Explorers of Awesomeness_. For this part, you will be fighting the main cast as the final villain in the final fight."

"Got it!"

"Now pay attention because this is important! Here is your character: Temporal Tower is all out of whack, so you have become mad with power. I need you act vicious and fight the main cast. Be sure to act really powerful, but don't forget to lose at the last second! You and they can improvise on the fight scene. Think you can do it?"

"Yeah. I can play this role perfectly." said Dialga with confidence.

"Excellent. The fighters will appear shortly up here, we need to go back down and get supplies, but once you see them say your lines and begin to fight them."

"Got it! Wait, who is the main cast this time?" Dialga shouted, but the seviper and his crew hurriedly raced down the steps of the tower, leaving Dialga to himself. The giant blue dinosaur shook off a few vibes of nervous and got himself into 'Primal Mode' as the director once explained it. Soon, Dialga felt sufficiently prepared to 'battle' whoever came up to meet him.

* * *

><p>"Why the heck do all rips in the fabric of reality due to the planets' aligning lead to a rainbow staircase?" Malispite asked.<p>

"Because the author is off his meds!" answered his future self. "Less talking more flying! We need to reach the top of Temporal Tower before Darkrai does!"

Luckily after his mistiming, future Malispite had a backup plan to save the world. They would rush to Temporal Tower before Darkrai did and stop him from placing the Time Gears in their slots. There was he, his past self, Gallade, Gardevoir and Gliscor so he figure they could stop Darkrai with relative ease.

"We're almost there, and I don't see Darkrai!" shouted Gliscor "Wait… is that…?"

As soon as they reached the top, they stared in horror. Blocking them from the main pillar of Temporal Tower was Dialga, except he looked extremely furious and more or less insane.

"Wh-wha! Dialga?" Gallade gasped.

"WRRROAAARR!" Dialga gave a mighty yell that shook the heavens. Everyone, future Malispite included, was shocked at how primal Dialga seemed to be.

"SO… YOU HAVE… COME!" Dialga stuttered, apparently having trouble with his sentences. "NO… YOU HAVE COME TO DESTROY… DESTROY ME! DESTROY TIME! I WILL STOP YOU!"

"What! Has he gone insane because Darkrai already put in the time gears?" future Malispite stepped back in fear.

Dialga was legitimately surprised that his little brother's friends were the main cast in this movie. However, their acting was top notch so he had no complaints. "YOU… I WILL NOT… PERMIT… GRAAAHHH!"

"He really is insane…!" future Malispite exclaimed in a tense manner. "We have to beat him to save time and prevent Darkrai's scheme!"

"I WILL… DESTROY YOU!" roared the vicious turned guardian of time. Dialga immediately performed an Earth Power that sent shockwaves of ground at their feet. Luckily the six managed to avoid that attack, with Gallade countering with a Leaf Blade. Dialga barely felt it and blasted Gallade with a Hyper Beam attack, deflected at the last second by the combined efforts of Malispite and future Malispite, who punched it out of the way.

"Crap. I forgot how strong Dialga was…" Malispite said, char marks over his fist. "Hey future me, what are our odds of winning?"

"Extremely low." said his future self dismally. "Dialga is a class Four Legendary. His power is so great that he can warp the fabric of reality itself. On top of that, he's much more experienced than all of us combined."

"GRAAAAAHHH!"

"But…" future Malispite continued. "We have a chance. Thanks to Dialga being out of it, he won't be able to control his power effectively. It's a slim chance that we can win, but it isn't zero…"

"Yeah, we already did that in arc two!" Ruby smiled, pumping her fists.

"…right."

"Stand back everyone! I'll take care of him." Gallade smirked. A massive amount of Energy Potential began to build up around him. Everyone realized what was going on, and quickly got out of the way as Gallade shouted his trump card.

"SWORDS DANCE!"

Blue energy surrounded Gallade's forearms, making them appear much larger and denser. Dialga, surprised, was caught off guard when Gallade charged him with Close Combat.

The green fighting psychic unleashed the strongest Move in his arsenal combined with the greatest Move he knew. Combined, blows of sheer power were delivered to Dialga. He was hit ten times by Gallade, each punch having the impact equivalent of a racecar in afterburner. Dialga found himself flying back on the ground, gasping in pain from Gallade's assault.

Gallade himself cancelled the move after the blows. He had used the two attacks for no more than twenty seconds, but already he was on his knees collapsing from the effort. Dialga himself was surprised that Gallade was able to deliver this much damage to him while he was at 30% power.

_'They really have improved, haven't they?'_ Dialga secretly smiled. _'Well, I have to be dramatic and I can't lose this early… alright, I think they can handle it.'_

"GRAH! YOU… YOU…!" yelled 'Primal Dialga, standing back up.

"Give it up Dialga! We need to beat you to save time!" future Malispite yelled.

"I WILL… I WILL SHOW YOU… MY TRUE POWER!" Dialga said, a red and blue seal forming in the diamond on his chest.

"RELEASE COMMAND: FORWARDS REVERSAL!"

The Energy Potential from him burst out like a hurricane. They became swamped in his energy as Dialga removed his seal and raised his power to one hundred percent. At this point shock was on the looks of everyone's face.

This was the true power of a class Four.

* * *

><p>"Seal… my… brother…"<p>

Cresselia gazed upon the books her mother had pulled up. They were books on espionage and sealing, no doubt to increase her knowledge on how to handle this situation.

_"Cresselia… the truth is, we can no longer deal with Darkrai's cursed abilities. His nightmares powers grow stronger with each passing day. Not only this, but we cannot risk Asmodeus being revived into this world. Thus, I and the Council have come to an agreement upon the matter._

_Using a special seal, we will trap Darkrai in another dimension."_

She could hardly believe her mother would do such a thing. Yet, it all made sense. Cresselia knew that her brother's nightmare powers were getting stronger. It would only be a matter of time before he was able to infect Pokemon with nightmares just from a single gaze.

Darkrai's uncontrollable nightmare powers would continue to increase. Without meaning, he would hurt everyone around him. This was an undeniable fact. This is why, even though it pained her, Cresselia would perform this duty.

"…brother…

I'm sorry…"

* * *

><p>Dialga's time warping powers were indeed immense. Dialga was able to avoid nearly all the damage done to him by leaping forward and backward in time while simultaneously maintaining an attacking front. Malispite and his future self had not given up yet though. They launched combination attacks at the blue and grey dinosaur in a relentless manner, despite the fact that they did not hit him half the time.<p>

"Shouldn't we… you know… help them?" Gardevoir wondered.

"Malispite said he'd do it himself." Gallade shrugged. "Er… himselves?"

"I hate time travel. It's a grammar nightmare." Gliscor noted.

"I just hate water types." Ruby shrugged. "You know, 'cause they're super effective on me."

Everyone stared. By this point, no one decided to point out the obvious fact that Ruby was in fact a psychic type, and not a fire type.

"So… what does Darkrai see in Lopunny anyway?" Gardevoir asked the group. "I mean she's just so…"

Gliscor: "Ignorant?"

Gallade: "Uncaring?"

Ruby: "Brown?"

"Yeah…" Gardevoir titled her head. After thinking it over, the three of them concluded that it was because her ears were big and poofy. Or something.

"But it doesn't matter." Gallade smiled. "Because no matter who Darkrai loves I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU GARDEVOIR!"

"Er… thanks…?"

"MARRY ME!"

Gardevoir blushed and shook her head, proceeding to star off into blank space. As Gliscor and Ruby began talking about something, Gallade's eyes drifted back to his beloved. He noted a solemn look in her eyes, and Gallade could not help but flash back to the battle between Darkrai and Mitsurashi Zero.

Darkrai fought bravely and valiantly to him, and protected all of them, Gardevoir especially, from Zero's powers. Gallade knew this and wondered if there were more enemies stronger than him out there, and if so, Gallade would need to get stronger in order to beat them.

But when Darkrai had succumbed to Zero's mind control, it was Gardevoir who snapped him out of it. And when she did so, her eyes reflected something Gallade had never seen from her before. It was pure faith that Darkrai could win, despite the overwhelming odds.

Gallade looked at her silently, wondering exactly what she thought of his rival.

* * *

><p><em>'Heh, I'm glad I can go almost all out against these guys!'<em> Dialga secretly grinned. _'They really are strong, not to mention surprisingly good at acting… this will be the best fight scene ever!'_

Dialga used his signature Move Roar of Time to warp time in order to warp space and time in a gigantic ripple that distorted everything around him. Malispite and his future self used Protect at the same time, but the blast still knocked them back. Injured as they were, they got back up.

"He's a bit weaker than normal…" murmured Malispite.

"Maybe his own insanity is causing him to be less powerful?" his future self pondered. "Malispite, I have an idea. At this point in time you know… that attack, right?"

"If I think I know what you're talking about, yes." grinned the brown colored bat. "I just learned it from Master Dunsparce."

"Good. Combo with me." his future self said. "Demon's Offence!"

"Demon's Offence!" the two bats glowed red with powerful markings that appeared all over their body. "Dialga! It's time to end this!"

_'Wait… that must be the cue! Alright, time to lose…' _"GRAAH! I WILL… DESTROY YOU!"

As Dialga prepared a Roar of Time in beam format, Malispite and future Malispite prepared their new Moves. They charged up all the energy they had, fists surrounded by a reddish colored fighting energy.

"Let's do it!" future Malispite cried. The two of them zoomed to Dialga, who fired his blue and white colored beam at them. But the two brown bats dodged it with their supreme speed, closing in on opposite sides of the blue dinosaur. "Take this!

"DYNAMICPUNCH!"

Dialga was slammed from both sides by one of the most powerful fighting Moves ever created. The impact was so great that his body contorted to it for a second, the concussive punch delivering so much force that it made him woozy from being hit. With a last dramatic roar, Dialga fell to the ground, pretending to be defeated.

"We… we did it!" Malispite huffed, tired from that last attack. His future self was also extremely tired, but forced himself to stay awake.

"Alright everyone, Dialga's down." he stated. "Now, we wait for Darkrai. We have to stop him no matter what!"

And then Darkrai came and used Dark Void on them by surprise. Because they did not see it coming, they were asleep instantly.

Gallade: (0_0)

Gardevoir: (0_0)

Gliscor: (0_0)

Ruby: (^_^) ?

"HAH! I HAVE NOW PUT MALISPITE AND HIS STUPID FUTURE SELF TO SLEEP!" said their new enemy, Darkrai, with all the Time Gears in his hands. "Now I am going to freeze all of time so Lopunny will fall in love with me!"

_'Wait, the final battle isn't over yet? Gasp, what a plot twist!' _thought Dialga, still pretending to be fainted.

"Darkrai, we can't let you do this!" Gardevoir cried. "Future Malispite told us that if you do this the world will end!"

"…did he say anything about me and Lopunny being together?"

"Uh… no?" Ruby raised her hand.

"THEN MY PLAN STILL HAS A CHANCE OF SUCCEEDING!"

It had come to this. The final battle to decide the fate of Darkrai's relationship the world. Gardevoir knew she had no choice, but she, Gallade, Ruby and Gliscor would have to take down Darkrai.

Unfortunately they would have to do it quickly, because the chapter was almost over, which meant time was of the essence. Luckily, Gallade had a plan.

"Hey author, can we beat up Darkrai by using pure Bullsh*t?"

"I DON'T CARE ANYMORE!"

And thus, they defeated Darkrai by using pure Bullsh*t. Shut up. I don't care anymore. WHY DOES NO ONE LOVE ME?

"Thank Arceus the author was off his meds today!" Ruby cheered. Darkrai was still moaning on the ground, having been somehow defeated. Gallade walked up to the prince of darkness.

"Darkrai, there's something I have to say to you." the fighting psychic began "I know that you love Lopunny, and I know that you would do anything to gain her affection.

Darkrai, the truth is… I also wanted to use the Time Gears to make Gardevoir fall in love with me. But Darkrai, I realized that neither of us can do that. You see Darkrai, I learned a valuable lesson today: if one freezes time, the world ends. And if the world ends, then your relationship ends with it. Plus, it's downright rude. So Darkrai, please reconsider trying to stop time, because new memories can still be made as long as the world does not end."

"That… was beautiful…" Ruby said, a tear in her eye. Even Gliscor and Gardevoir were crying from Gallade's empathetic speech. Darkrai was moved by Gallade's words, and stood up, smiling and vowing never to try and stop time ever again.

"You're right Gallade… let's all just go home."

* * *

><p><strong>LATER WITH DIALGA<strong>

"Well, that was awesome." Dialga said cheerfully. "Ah, and there's the director! I bet he's impressed by the last battle of our movie!"

On cue, Seviper in his red director's hat slithered up to Dialga, behind him a Sceptile, Charizard and Feraligatr. "Sorry about that Dialga, it took a bit to film the romance scene leading up to the final battle."

"Yes, because Charizard kept burning my lips." Sceptile glared at her partner.

"Hey, was it my idea to pair together a fire type and a grass type?" retorted the flaming lizard.

"Both of you shut it! We don't much time! We have to film the final battle right now before this dimension closes!" hissed Seviper.

"…wait… I thought we just did the final battle?" Dialga questioned. Seviper looked at him curiously, then noticed the bruises on his skin.

"… you mean you fought someone else!"

"Wait, but that means…!"

_"What! Has he gone insane because Darkrai already put in the time gears!"_

_"Now I am going to freeze all of time to get Lopunny to fall in love with me!"_

"THAT WAS ALL REAL?"

* * *

><p>Arceus teleported into the library. It was time for Cresselia to tell her plan on how they were going to imprison her brother. Arceus found Cresselia in a short time, her daughter apparently waiting for her arrival.<p>

"Mother…"

"Cresselia, your hour is up. Have you formulated a plan and studied the seal long enough?" Arceus asked.

"…Mother." Cresselia said. "I've made my decision."

"Hm?"

"I refuse your plan."

Arceus narrowed her eyes in response to this. She took a few steps forwards towards her daughter. "What did you say, Cresselia…?"

"I said I refuse to imprison my brother in another dimension!" yelled the pink and yellow swan. "I want no part of this!"

"Fine then. You do realize that I'm just going to have to do it myself, and that you will never become a Legendary, correct?" Arceus asked coldly. "Perhaps this was a bad idea. You're far too young to understand."

"I understand that Darkrai is my brother." Cresselia hissed "I understand that his nightmares abilities are growing, perhaps even more so than you expected. But Darkrai can control them, and above all he is my brother." Cresselia glared at her mother angrily.

"I don't care if I never become a Legendary. And I could care less about you trying to seal away Darkrai. Mother, even if you are a class Five, the current God, I will fight you with every fiber of my being to save Darkrai from you!"

Arceus's eyes remained narrowed. Cresselia was sweating. She naturally understood that her mother would easily punish her. However, Cresselia had a plan- the seal for transferring thought was almost complete. In a few seconds, Cresselia would link herself up with Darkrai and warn him about mother.

Arceus stepped back, sighing. Then, with a virulent energy, she whipped around to face Cresselia and shouted the words "YOU PASS!"

It took almost a full minute for Cresselia to realize something was up.

"…what?"

"You pass! Did you really think I would seal my own son in another dimension!" Arceus laughed.

"WAIT! Then that was all a lie?" Cresselia said, wide eyed.

"Yep~!"

"Mother you…! Why would you do such a thing?" glared an angry Cresselia.

"Because I had to test you." Arceus replied as-a-matter-of-factly. Cresselia was still steaming.

"A test! A test for what exactly?"

"To see if you were ready for a real mission."

At this, Cresselia stopped cold. Did her mother just say…?

"Pack your bags Cresselia! Get your team ready and say your goodbyes!

You're going to Almia!"

* * *

><p><strong>-Legendary PKMN Arc Three: "Shadows"-<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>WELL NOW THAT YOU HAVE TAKEN YOR MEDICATION, DO YOU FEEL ANY BETTER?<strong>

Cataclyptic: "Yeah… and more importantly, arc three can get started."

**SO WHAT'S ARC THREE GOING TO BE ABOUT?**

Cataclyptic: "Well, quite frankly I've run out of ideas. So now I'm just going to rip of other people's ideas until I can think of new ones."

**HM. BY THE WAY, I THOUGHT YOU HATED YAOI, SO WHY DOES DARKRAI END UP WITH MALISPITE?**

Cataclyptic: "Right… that thing you read wasn't a footnote. It was sent to me by my cousin. And yes, she is a yaoi fan girl."

**THAT EXPLAINS A LOT**

Cataclyptic: "Yes, yes it does."

**SO WHO DOES DARKRAI END UP WITH THEN?**

Cataclyptic: "Heheh, well the answer may surprise you. The truth is, Darkrai actually-


	2. Calestia

Chapter thirty seven: Calestia

* * *

><p>The carriage made small noises each time it passed over a bump. Carriages to be exact, three in total pulled by a team of strong Rapidash. He of course got his own personal carriage, being that he would cause nightmares to everyone sleeping in the other two, save his sister.<p>

Darkrai blinked and looked ahead of himself, catching a glimpse of Mercifond's fallen hand. Everyone should have been asleep by now, save himself. Darkrai was simply not tired enough to sleep, for his mind raced with wild thoughts of where he was going.

Today the moon was full as Darkrai sat on the top of his simple car at the end of the ride, gazing at the moon.

He could hardly believe what happened the day before, but understood the weight he and the others now had to bear.

* * *

><p><em>EXTREMELY LONG FLASHBACK<em>

_"So what did you call us for?" Darkrai huffed, arms crossed and leaning against one of the white pillars._

_"Well Cresselia passed the test so now I need to send all of you to Almia because Reshiram and Zekrom can't make it." explained his mother._

_"…can you explain that in a way that makes more sense?" Gliscor raised a claw._

_"Yes. I have gotten disturbing reports from Chairperson Erma from the Ranger Union that something is happening in Almia, and that she requires Legendaries to solve it. Oh, and Kairi says 'Hi' by the way, Ruby."_

_"Hi Kairi!" cried the blue haired gardevoir._

_"Anyway, from what her reports entail, this seems to be serious business." Arceus concluded._

_"So… what does that have to do with us?" asked Malispite. Cresselia stepped forth from Arceus' side, a proud look in her eye._

_"We have been selected to accomplish this mission."_

_"We? As in, me and you?" Darkrai perked up._

_"Actually…" Cresselia paused._

_"All of you, really." Arceus finished. "It has come to my attention that Cresselia's Legendary Council has shown to have great strength and will in the past."_

_Darkrai glared at his smirking younger sister while their mother continued. "Therefore, I would like all of your to partake in this mission."_

_"R-Really?" Mercifond said, wide eyed. "A mission! We get an actual mission?"_

_"Sick. I'm in." grinned the seven foot tall brown bat. "When do we leave?"_

_"Now hold on just a second!" Gallade interjected "Some of us may not want to go." he said wisely. Turning to Gardevoir he asked "Gardevoir are you going!"_

_"Uh… I don't know…"_

_"Then I don't know if I'm going either!" Gallade cried._

_"Gee, what a surprise." Darkrai muttered._

"Yeah, William's as annoying as ever."

_"Shut up, dead guy in my head."_

_"Well I mean… I have to guard the house while my parents are still traveling." Gliscor stated his case. "I mean, what if I'm robbed or something while I go?"_

_"That can be accommodated for." explained the white being. "While you are gone, I'll seal away your house in another dimension until you get back. That always works!"_

_"No it doesn't." pointed out Cresselia._

_"Yeah, isn't that how Absolix escaped?" Malispite added._

_"And also the U word."_

_"Not to mention what happened last chapter!"_

_"Plus that one incident with the shoes…"_

_"SEALING THINGS IN ALTERNATE DIMENSIONS ALWAYS WORKS." Arceus stamped her hoof firmly on the ground. A dead silence filled the air as Arceus' eyes shone red, glaring at any who opposed her idea._

_"I-I'm good."_

_"Excellent. Anyone else who can't make it?"_

_"Well me for one thing." everyone looked at Gardevoir. "I have two siblings to take care of. What am I supposed to do about that?"_

_"We'll seal them inside an alternate dimension too." Arceus declared. Gardevoir was horrified, but Arceus assured her that she was kidding. "They can come live here in the Hall of Origin for a while!"_

_"They'll have a good time here. We've got everything in the Hall, TV, videogames, warping rooms, and even a giant slinky." Darkrai added to convince Gardevoir._

_"Well… I'll think about it…" said the green haired psychic._

_"Hold up though…" Deoxys raised a hand. "None of us are even class Three's, and I'm the only one who's eighteen. Are you really sure about this, Arceus?"_

_"Excellent point." noted Arceus. "You are going to be accommodated by another Legendary just to be safe."_

_And from the shadows stepped said Legendary. He was tall, floating about a foot off the ground using telekinetic powers, long purple tail flowing behind him. The being set himself down, and grinned his usual grin._

_"Mewtwo!" several of them shouted happily. Arceus had decided to un-ground Mewtwo just for this occasion. Mewtwo was currently the only class Four available for missions, which made him a perfect candidate to watch over them._

_"He is, however, only going to watch you perform unless the situation requires him to act." Arceus said, looking at Mewtwo. "You all will still be doing the mission of your own. Oh, and while none of you are class Three's this assignment shouldn't be too difficult to handle."_

_"Hey hold up!" shouted a voice. "I'm now a class Three!" grinned Darkrai from his pillar._

_"… no you aren't." Cresselia sighed._

_"Yes! Yes I am!" Darkrai insisted. "My power level is over 50,000 now!"_

_"Prove it." said Arceus in a monotonous voice. Darkrai took center stage and unleashed_ _the full power of his Energy Potential. A mild shockwave followed, and Darkrai's power was indeed impressive but…_

_"Sorry Darkrai, eighteen thousand." said Mewtwo, who could expertly read power levels._

_"What? That can't be right! Wait a minute, it must be that seal Master Dunsparce put on me!" Darkrai said, pointing to a yellow and green band on his left wrist. "Tell him to take it off! Then you'll see!"_

_"Mnhm." said a disbelieving Arceus._

_"Uh, Arceus?" Gliscor raised his hand again. "I like how Mewtwo is going to keep us in check… but who's going to keep him in check?"_

_"Celebi is!" God decreed, nudging hr head in the direction of the green pixie who appeared from nowhere. "Believe it or not, these two are all we have. Nonetheless, they should be able to oversee you."_

_Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, except Darkrai who was trying desperately hard to somehow remove the seal on his wrist with no such luck._

_"I'm… still not sure if I'm going or not." Mercifond admitted, with nods from Gallade and Gardevoir._

_"Think it over then." Arceus said. "When you've all thought it through and decided you want to go then meet me back here tomorrow!"_

_'She's already decided that we're all going…'everyone thought, noting Arceus' choice of words. Arceus gave them twenty four hours to think it all over, and for now they should all just head home. As everyone left, Arceus gave them one final piece of advice._

_"Oh by the way you need a team name! That way we can refer to your group easier and so that the author can stop referring to all of you as 'they' or 'them' or 'the group'!"_

* * *

><p><em>Practically everyone had exited the Hall of Origin via the usual pink portal. Deoxys remained behind to discuss 'business' with Mewtwo.<em>

_"Wow, you guys get a mission!" Ruby pumped her fist in the air. "That's awesome!"_

_"Hell yeah!" grinned Malispite, stretching his black wings. "Come on sis, let's pack up!"_

_"Hold on Malispite! I don't even know if I want to go!"_

_"Mercifond." Malispite stared hard. "We need you on this mission. Yor the Chosen One remember?"_

_Mercifond slapped her head. Why, oh Arceus why did she have to be the Chosen One? Why couldn't it have been someone else? "Malispite, I don't even want this. I just want to be a doctor, not the world's savior or whatever…"_

_Without another word, the white bat effortlessly took off and flew away. All turned to Malispite, staring at his sister in the distance._

_"Don't worry. I'll convince her somehow."_

_"You'd better, the team wouldn't be complete without her!" Cresselia ordered. Malispite took off as well back to his house. Gardevoir and Gallade said their farewells, walking back as well. Ruby followed Gallade since she was his guest, and Darkrai had vanished without anyone knowing._

_He had turned himself into a shadow, zipping in the darkness with great speed towards his destination: the karate dojo. In practically no time at all he arrived, furiously knocking on the door. Soon enough, out came Master Dunsparce himself, opening the door for Darkrai._

_"Master Dunsparce, you won't believe it!"_

_Master Dunsparce stared._

_"Okay fine, sorry for waking you up. But guess what?"_

_Master Dunsparce stared._

_"NO! She's just a friend!" Darkrai yelled at his master, who apparently thought he should go out with Gardevoir. "We're going on a mission!"_

_Master Dunsparce stared._

_"Yeah, mom told us and everything!" Darkrai said proudly. "So I need you to remove the seal you placed on me so that I can prove I'm a class Three!"_

_"What's all this commotion about?" asked a voice, revealed to be Dusknoir, the former leader of the former Team Nova._

_Master Dunsparce stared._

_"A mission! Really? asked Dusknoir with interest. "Hoho! The young are taking charge now, I like it! Taking your first steps into the adult world, eh Darkrai?"  
><em>  
><em>"Yeah… I guess." Darkrai shrugged.<em>

_"Hoho! And where will you be going may I ask?"_

_"Almia."_

_"Almia! Hoho! That's where we're all from you know! Ariados and I are going back in a few days."_

_Master Dunsparce stared._

_"Pardon, Dunsparce?" asked Dusknoir._

_Master Dunsparce stared._

_"What?" Darkrai said, shocked._

_"You're going with Darkrai?" Dusknoir repeated. "You want to train him?"_

_Master Dunsparce stared._

_"HEY! I AM NOT A WEAK LITTLE BRAT!" Darkrai said angrily. "I can totally kick ass there by myself if I wanted to! Now take off this stupid seal!"_

_Master Dunsparce stared._

_"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I NEED IT? I can't use my full power with this thing on!"_

_"Hoho! Best do as he says Darkrai, Dunsparce knows what he's doing." said Dusknoir cheerfully. Darkrai still did not buy it and figured his karate teacher was going senile._

_"Tell you what:" proposed Dusknoir "We'll join you as you go to Almia! I also wish to train you youngsters, and we have to go anyway so there it is!"_

_"This is ridiculous…" Darkrai muttered. But just then, Arceus' hologram appeared beside them._

_"Actually Darkrai, I approve. You need training because you're far too weak as it is."_

_"I AM NOT WEAK!"_

_"Judgment!"_

_(INSERT DARKRAI LYING ON THE FLOOR IN PAIN HERE)_

_"See? I told you." Arceus shrugged. Turning back to the former members of Nova, she said "Dusknoir, Dunsparce, we'd be happy for you to join."_

_"Hoho! That's good, I also have someone whom I'd like to train, and I believe Ariados has taken an interest in the young Gardevoir."_

_"Perfect. You can show them the ropes and maybe their skills will improve." Arceus said happily. She buzzed off saying a goodbye._

_"Well isn't this exciting, hoho! I'd better wake up Ariados and tell her the news!"_

* * *

><p><em>END FLASHBACK<em>

And that was that. Darkrai never did get the seal off, it was still there glowing faintly in the darkened midnight sky. He didn't know how far, but somewhere they were being trailed by Team Nova in their own caravan.

They had been selected for a mission in Almia. That was all they knew- the details were apparently too confidential to relay over E-mail or phone. Their destination was Almia's center: the Ranger Union, where their friend Kairi was currently stationed. He could hear Ruby muttering in her sleep, she eagerly awaited being reunited with her partner.

There was a shuffling as Gardevoir awoke. She blinked a few times before yawning, realizing that it was still night. She looked around for a few seconds before she saw Darkrai perched atop the roof of his car.

"Darkrai…?" questioned Gardevoir. She lifted her blanket off and quietly levitated herself across the bodies sleeping on the floor, going over to Darkrai's car. The prince of darkness made no indication he had noticed her, that is until she flew up to him.

"Stay at least a meter away." he told her. "…my nightmare powers are getting stronger. If you get too close, you may start to hallucinate."

Gardevoir blinked once, but obeyed. She sat on another edge of the roof, legs dangling down. A silence passed between the two teenagers as they stared at the stars.

"…so what are you doing up?" whispered Gardevoir.

"Can't sleep." was Darkrai's blunt reply. That was the end of that conversation. Gardevoir returned to the stars, gazing upon their brilliance.

"Which one do you think is Deoxys' world?" she asked Darkrai casually. Darkrai shifted a bit, then replied.  
>"I doubt Ribos gives off its own light." the prince of darkness said "But if I had to guess… somewhere in that cluster?" Darkrai pointed to a group of stars.<p>

"She really misses her planet. Her family." Gardevoir continued. "She talks in her sleep. Very clearly."

"I bet she does." Darkrai sighed. "Seriously, why the heck did Helix disown her for being friends with us! It's not right…"

"Yeah." Gardevoir pursed her mouth. "It makes me wonder just why Helix hates earthlings."

"Mn." grunted Darkrai. "One day I'm going to become a class Five, and when I do, I'll force her to love Deoxys again." he vowed.

Gardevoir giggled. "She talks about Mewtwo a lot in her sleep as well."

"Oh?" Darkrai smiled, interested.

_"Oh Mewtwo… you're skin is so smooth… and your eyes… your tail…"_ at this impression, Darkrai laughed, prompting Gardevoir to continue. _"Oh Mewtwo, not yet… it's too soon… ohhhh…"_

"Hah! That's funny!" Darkrai laughed.

"She tried confessing to him the other day you know." the green haired psychic added. "It didn't exactly work…"

"Darn." Darkrai frowned. "Hm… maybe I can convince Mewtwo to take her out…"

"How?"

"Nightmare Pokemon, remember? I'll threaten him in his sleep!" said Darkrai excitably. Gardevoir merely sighed, but smiled all the same. The tension between them was gone the two enjoying a peaceful silence. Gardevoir gazed at Darkrai's broad back, and realized that there was no other place she would rather be.

She was glad that she had decided to come.

* * *

><p><em>EXTREMELY LONG FLASHBACK CONTINUED<em>

_The second Gardevoir shut the door to her house, she collapsed on the door itself. She could hardly believe that she was chosen to do a mission. In Almia no less, a place she had never been to before._

_But Gardevoir honestly did not want to go. Tempting as it was, she had her duties. Being in a family without any parents and low income, it was up to Gardevoir alone to manage their house and take care of her sisters._

_She was already shirking away from her duties with all the misadventures that had come up. First it was Weavile, then Kurades, and especially…_

_Gardevoir paused, holding her breath. She carefully walked upstairs into her bedroom, looking in her full view mirror._

_The tips of her hair were yellow. Before it was only a few strand of the golden color, but now it was plainly visible._

_Gardevoir remembered everything. It was a sign of her contract with Absolix._

_"I will control you when I have need of your abilities."_

_"Let that serve you as a reminder of our deal."_

_Her thoughts were interrupted by her sister Kirlia screaming for her to get down. Gardevoir obliged, and was met with an extremely pleased younger sister._

_"Gardevoir check it out!" she said, holding an envelope filled with money. "I nailed a good one! Ten thousand Pok'e!"_

_"So that's where you were." smiled Gardevoir, noting the time. "Thank you Kirlia, this will help pay for next months rent."_

_"Alright!" Kirlia pumped her fist in the air. "Hey Ralts, did you hear that? I scored a big mission and got a lot of money!"_

_Ralts, who had just appeared, gazed at her sister inquisitively. "…did you make this big?" she asked, raising her hands as high as she could._

_"Even bigger than that!" Kirlia said proudly._

_"Oh." Ralts said in awe. "Onee-san, I want a cookie."_

_"We don't have any Ralts." Gardevoir said sweetly, picking up her younger sister. "But we might be able to go out for ice cream tomorrow. How does that sound?"_

_"I want ice cream." Ralts said in a small voice._

_Gardevoir giggled. Yes, this was where she belonged- taking care of her family. As much as she wanted to go on a mission from the Council it simply was not possible. But she was still happy, because this is what she was meant to do._

_The doorbell rang._

_"Who could that be?" Gardevoir wondered, dropping Ralts._

_"Is it Deyo?" asked Ralts, interested. Kirlia opened the door._

_"It's Darkrai." she yelled. In the doorway floated the black and red colored prince of darkness himself._

_"Yo, Kirlia." Darkrai waved. He saw Ralts, who his behind her sisters' legs._

_"Hi Mister." Ralts said quietly. Darkrai narrowed his eyes._

_"My name is DARKRAI." he said, pronouncing every vowel as clearly as he could. "Get it right already!"_

_Naturally, Ralts had no idea what he was talking about. "Okay Mister."_

_Darkrai shook his head. "Gardevoir, I need to talk to you. About the mission."_

_"Mission?" Kirlia said, intrigued, dancing to Darkrai's side. "What mission?"_

_"You didn't know?" grinned Darkrai. "Your sister is so badass that she was selected to join me and a few others in an actual mission from the Legendary Council."_

_Kirlia simply gaped at Darkrai, and then gaping at her older sister. Briefly, Darkrai explained the events that had transpired during the last two hours. When he was done, Kirlia simply gaped in awe at her older sister. Ralts barely understood what was going on, but knew enough to be afraid._

_"Onee-san is… going away?" she said in a small voice, hugging her sister's leg even tighter. Gardevoir scooped the child in her arms and soothes her. "No Ralts, I'm not going anywhere." And then, to Darkrai "I can't go."_

_"Then listen." Darkrai said softly. "I know all about the burden you bear… because I pay about half of it every month."_

_Gardevoir paused, Darkrai extending his legs and leaning against the stairway. "I realize that you have to take care of your sisters. And I can't blame you for wanting to- I know the feeling._

_But I still think you should come. And here's the reason why: we need you. This is a big mission, I can tell, and we need you to be a part of this."_

_Darkrai rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Look, mom can take care of your sisters while your away. She may sound stupid but mom really helps when it counts. I… we really want you to come."_

_Gardevoir simply looked at Darkrai, her expression unreadable. "Please think it over."_

_And with that, Darkrai turned into a shadow and was gone._

* * *

><p><em>The next day, everyone met at Tajiri High. Well, almost everyone. As Darkrai painfully noted, Gardevoir did not show. Gazing around, neither did Malispite or Mercifond. Gallade had appeared, but only to watch. Cresselia of course tried to lead them in an orderly fashion by announcing their first task.<em>

_"We apparently need a new team name…" she grumbled "since no one except me want to use 'Cresselia's Legendary Council'…"_

_"Well for one thing it's too long." Deoxys said logically._

_"Not to mention egotistical." muttered Darkrai in agreement. Cresselia galred at Darkrai, but said nothing._

_"So what WILL we use as a team name?" she asked._

_"Something cool like, Apocalypse!" Darkrai smirked._

_"I… don't want our name to be associated with disaster." was Deoxys was of putting off Darkrai's horrid name choice._

_"How about Legends?" suggested Gliscor, shrugging._

_"Lame." was the response of many of his peers._

_"Come on Pokemon, think of something good!" Cresselia ordered. "This is top priority right now!"_

_"I have an idea." Gallade said._

_"If it has anything to do with Gardevoir then don't tell us." Deoxys narrowed her eyes._

_Gallade said nothing. More bickering over the team name commence, until the surprising interruption of Malispite and his sister Mercifond. They landed in the center, announcing their intention to join._

_"Like I said." grinned Malispite, who kept his promise. Mercifond explained that Malispite had an important point about this being good for a resume for a future job. Being on a mission assigned by the legendaries would surely bolster her reputation._

_"…and that's why I've decided to come." concluded the white bat._

_"Alright, with the Chosen One on our side, we're sure to gain victory!" cheered Gliscor. Mercifond only sighed in response, seeing as it was role whether she liked it or not. Then again, maybe it wasn't do bad…_

_"So, that's six of us… all but Gardevoir and presumably Gallade."_

_"Actually, I've decided to come along." Gallade said, surprising everyone. "Since Darkrai will be leaving as well, I so no reason to obsessively protect Gardevoir since she's strong in her own right._

_Plus, when I come back a hero she'll dig me for sure!"_

_"I see…" Cresselia contemplated. "So that's everyone except Gardevoir. Pity…"_

_There was a moment of silence when it dawned onto them that their green and white colored friend could not join them in perhaps the biggest endeavor their group had yet faced. But it could not be helped, the mission was, after all, optional._

_"Well, how about something in space?" Cresselia got back to the naming. "Like maybe Jupiter or something."_

* * *

><p><em>Gardevoir stood in the kitchen, preparing breakfast before Kirlia ran off to do another mission with her exploration team. The pot filled with delicious aguav berries stirred silently, reflective of Gardevoir's mood.<em>

_She wanted to go after all._

_Without word, she poured some of the pot into a thermos, the final item in Kirlia's lunch box. She closed the box, and called for her sister._

_"Kirlia! Lunch is ready!" she cried in a cheerful voice._

_Strangely enough, no one came. Gardevoir peeked around the corner, so sign of life. "Kirlia?" she walked across the living room into another room attached to it, Kirlia's space. She was not there either._

_"Maybe she doesn't have a mission today?"_

_"No, but you do!"_

_Gardevoir whipped around, both of her younger sisters suddenly in plain sight. "Sis, you've got to go!"_

_"Oh yeah, and if I go who will take care of you?" Gardevoir sighed. Kirlia stamped her foot._

_"We can go live in the Hall of Origin! Right Ralts, don't you want to go live with Mew!"_

_"…" Ralts was silent._

_"I'm staying." Gardevoir said firmly. "I have to take care of you, both of you."_

_"No you don't! Gardevoir you're missing out, and we're perfectly willing to stay over at the Hall?"_

_"And what something were to happen to you while I was gone?" Gardevoir asked. "What then?"_

_"Then Arceus could take care of it. She's extremely powerful."_

_"The answer is still no. Now take your lunch box, it's done." Gardevoir ordered, shoving the small box in Kirlia's direction. She strode past her sister back into the kitchen, where she would put the rest of the pot into the freezer._

_"You want to go don't you?" Kirlia accused. Gardevoir said nothing, going about her duties. "Then what's stopping you?"_

_"Familial duties." Gardevoir whispered. "Someone has to make sure you two are out of trouble."_

_Kirlia stared at the floor. Ralts looked back and forth, between Gardevoir and Kirlia. Ralts slowly walked over to her eldest sister, tugging on her dress for attention._

_"Onee-san." said Ralts quietly. "Don't be sad."_

_Kirlia looked over to her sister and saw that Gardevoir was shedding silent tears. All at once, Kirlia knew what was going on, the reason that was stopping Gardevoir from going to Almia:_

_Their parents' deaths._

_"…Sis… please, we know you work hard for us, to support us and care for both me and Ralts. We know how hard it is, to live with… no mommy or daddy."_

_Gardevoir wiped some tears from her eyes, her voice almost choking. "You're too young to remember."_

_"Maybe I don't remember their deaths. But I remember one thing." Kirlia smiled. "I remembered seeing my older sister cry. I remember the pain in her eyes, I remember seeing her in the worst state I had ever seen."_

_"If I were… to lose you…" Gardevoir choked, unable to bear the thought of her two younger sisters gone._

_"You won't. We'll just be separated for a while." Kirlia hugged her sister from the back. Ralts too, hugged Gardevoir in her own way. "We'll miss you."_

_"But… what if… what if something happens…?" asked Gardevoir, unable to let go of her fear._

_"Don't worry." said Ralts "Mew is my friend. We play together. And, and… you should play with your friends too because its no fair that only me and Kirlia do it."_

_Words of wisdom from a five year old. Gardevoir cried, lifting up both her wonderful sisters and hugging them tighter than she ever held them before._

_"You can do it sis." Kirlia whispered. "Now go to Almia! Kick the bad guys' butts!"_

_Before Gardevoir knew it, she was running all the way to Tajiri High. And before she knew it, she was there, smiling as the others stared at her with joy._

_"I'm coming!"_

* * *

><p><em>END FLASHBACK<em>

Gardevoir reflected on what had transpired earlier in the day. She had left her sisters, they were relocated temporarily to the Hall of Origin. And here she was, about to cross over to a foreign land.

"It must have been tough." Darkrai nodded. "But you got over your fear. So don't worry: my mom will protect your sisters there, and I'll protect you here." he promised. "The reunion will be here before you know it."

"Thanks Darkrai. I…I think I'll be fine now. But thank you, for everything."

Darkrai paused, realizing something.

"Wait, Gardevoir, how did you know about the parts you weren't there for?"

* * *

><p><strong>GAPING PLOT HOLE<strong>

Unbeknownst to Darkrai and Gardevoir, a third member was awake, Cresselia. The Lunar swan lay in darkness, not moving, pretending to be asleep. She heard the conversation from Darkrai and Gardevoir, as they replayed the memories of earlier today.

However Cresselia was worried. She had been worried for a while now, because she had seen something that had changed her life. Something she had discovered upon by sheer accident.

During the course two days ago when Arceus faked having her try to imprison her younger brother, Cresselia had made up her mind within the first half hour. She then decided to use what sealing knowledge she had gathered to open up a secret door in the library.

The secret door had been in there for as long as Cresselia could remember, but Arceus always told her never to open it. Until now, Cresselia had no idea how to undo the seal her mother had placed upon the door, but after trying a few times in that interval she succeeded.

The pink swan had floated through the door into a brightly lit chamber, filled with hundreds of golden plaques. Upon closer examination, Cresselia realized their true nature: they were the names of all the Legendaries that had ever existed since year 1200 when it began.

Cresselia saw the Legendaries that she knew, and many more whom had passed thousands of years ago.

_"The dumbest student I have ever had, but now I am proud to engrave his name among our ranks."_ Cresselia remembered one. _"Hearan. Heatran's father…"_

She soon found the more recent golden squares, and found some names that she knew.

_"To the world's strongest psychic, congratulations."_ Cresselia breathed. _"Lugia."_

And to her surprise, found an entry that she should have expected. "My best friend, and the first Ribonian to be added to our ranks. Helix." Cresselia realized that these were the ones that Arceus made herself. Continuing on from Helix, Cresselia saw the rise of more recent Legendaries, and more familiar names.

But then she saw one. The one right after Myuu, Mew's mother. She stopped cold in her tracks, her pink eyes wide with fright. Wide with confusion.

"This can't be…"

_"To my brother, who I will always love. We are proud to have you join the Council, and I proud to have been your sister."_

_Kurades._

Cresselia stepped back in fear. It was impossible. The enemy they had just faced- the horrible man who had nearly spelled the doom of Darkrai had been one of them. But more than that, _Kurades was Arceus' brother._

Cresselia floated back, afraid of what she had just seen. One of their greatest enemies used to be a Legendary. She turned around and was face to face with another plaque. A more recent entry, dating back one hundred and ninety years ago.

With a quivering beak, she read it.

"Everyone doubted you at first, but you have proven yourselves to us a thousand times over. You have become the youngest class Four in history, and I sincerely believe you will be my successor. Congratulations"

As silently as she could, Cresselia read the name.

Absolix

* * *

><p>Absolix. Their worst enemy. Their most powerful foe.<p>

And he was once one of them.

Cresselia had always envisioned the Legendary Council to be perfect. A society of do-gooders who promoted altruism and vanquished evil at all costs. Now, the lines between good and evil were blurred.

Not just Kurades, who turned out to be Arceus' brother, but even Absolix. Cresselia was just as riddled with confusion as she had ever been before. Who exactly were these two? What kind of history could they have which made them join the Council and subsequently turn dangerous?

Alas, she had no answer.

Cresselia tried to shake away these disturbing thoughts by reflecting on the large step they had taken in going along with this mission. They were being given a chance to prove themselves before their superiors, and Cresselia was going to make sure it would not be messed up.

With Gardevoir coming along, their team was complete. Nothing could possibly stand in their way as long as they were together. This of course, included their team name, which Gardevoir helped solve almost immediately.

* * *

><p><em>EXTREMELY LONG FLASHBACK CONTINUED… AGAIN<em>

_"So? Who all is coming?" Arceus asked inquisitively. Proudly, they announced that everyone was coming. And more, because apparently someone invited Team Nova along for the ride._

_"Excellent! I knew you wouldn't fail me!" Arceus said, pleased. Turning away she called "Heatran! We won't need the Brutal Torture Device of Lethal Pain after all!"_

_Everyone became a little more thankful after hearing those words._

_"More importantly, did you figure out a name for your team?"_

_"Yes, yes we did." Cresselia smiled._

_"From now on we are Calestia."_

* * *

><p>Special AN: Well, we're finally hitting current chapters! This one happens to be the latest thus far, so now I won't be able to update three chapters a day anymore, the chapters shall be posted as soon as I am finished with them.


	3. Kairi VS Mary Tzu

Chapter thirty eight: Kairi VS Mary Tzu

* * *

><p>"Chairperson Erma." said a female Ranger with a red uniform "They've arrived."<p>

"CHUCK NORRIS!"

"No! Nothing like him!" said the same Ranger, "I meant the help you requested from Arceus."

"Oh. Okay, send them in." Erma regained her composure. After a quick radio in, there came some Pokemon up the stairs to the top of the Ranger headquarters in Almia. Two of them were Darkrai and Cresselia, Arceus' children, one was an Ivysaur, and the rest were unrecognizable. There were nine of them in total.

"…What's going on here?" asked Erma, "I requested… Legendaries…"

"Dark, Darkrai." said the pitch black Pokemon, holding a note to Erma. The chairwoman carefully opened it.

_Dear Erma,_ the note read, _Sorry, but this is the best I could do. -God_

Erma paused, looking at all of them suspiciously. A feeling of nervous overcame Calestia as they felt the old eyes of the Ranger leader watching their every move.

"What do you think the note said?" Darkrai whispered to his sister.

"She's probably trying to find Mewtwo…" guessed the lunar swan. Erma then sighed, and ordered for the entire room to be transformed to '5b'. Three of her operatives effortlessly typed in a couple things on the keyboard, and declared it was done.

"Excellent." said Erma, "You all can talk freely now." she pointed at the ragtag group of teens. There were a couple blinks before some quite comments, then realizing that said comments were in Spanish.

"¿Qué es esto?" Darkrai asked, confused.

"Creo que estamos hablando en un idioma raro…" Gliscor suggested, despite not knowing the real answer. Erma blinked, looking angrily at her operatives.

"English please!" she cried, "I don't understand Mexican!"

"México no es un lenguaje real." pointed out Mercifond.

"…Like I said, I don't understand Mexican." repeated Erma. A couple keystrokes later and the operatives claimed to have it fixed to 'English'. As soon as it was done the Pokemon began to speak in English. The first thing that came out of their mouths was

"Wait, where's Ruby?"

"Down below." Mewtwo answered, "I gave her some explosive chemicals to pour onto the meeting room for fun."

A pause.

**_BOOOOOOSSSSSHHHH!_**

An explosion was heard from below. Chairperson Erma face-palmed herself. "Someone take care of that…" she moaned. One of the Rangers volunteered, and Erma decided to get things back on track. "So I know Darkrai and Cresselia but who are the rest of you?"

The cast introduced themselves, Malispite, Mercifond, Gallade, Gardevoir, Gliscor, Mewtwo and Ivysaur, since Deoxys wore her white moustache for disguise. Just then, the ranger from before returned with Ruby, who has char all over her white and blue fur.

"That was awesome Mewtwo!" she shouted happily. Mewtwo merrily grinned at her.

"Am I to understand that it's YOU who Arceus sent to help us?" chairperson Erma pointed her cane at them.

"Yes." Gallade smiled.

"We're Calestia!" Malispite flashed a grin.

"Believe me I'm more than enough but mom insisted the rest come anyway." bragged the prince of darkness. This earned him many glares.

"And I am their beautiful, powerful and stylish leader." Cresselia finished "What can we do for you, Ms. Erma?"

"Well," Erma replied "let me first-"

"EGAD! SOMEONE BLEW UP MY NICE CLEAN MEETING ROOM!" shouted a voice from downstairs.

"Hasting's back." said the grey haired woman. From downstairs came an old man with a broad moustache in scientific garb, yelling and screaming.

"ERMA! SOMEONE BLEW UP MY MEETING ROOM!"

"I did it!" confessed Ruby happily. Hastings stared.

"RUBY! YOU'RE BACK!" he yelled, hugging the gardevoir tightly. "I MISSED YOU!"

"Hastings, please stop screaming. " Erma sighed.

"WHAT?"

"I said please stop screaming!"

"WHAT?"

"Hastings, is your hearing aid turned on?"

"WHAT? I'M SORRY ERMA I CAN'T HEAR YOU; I THINK MY HEARING AID IS TURNED OFF."

"Then turn it back on!"

"WHAT?"

After an eternity of yelling, Erma managed to get Hastings to turn his hearing aid back on, which somehow restored his voice to normal. With an informal sigh, Hastings quietly apologized.

"Now that that's been taken care of, let me explain the mission." Erma got straight to the point. Everyone tensed. This was it. Their extremely important mission which Arceus herself gave them. The reason they were brought to Almia…

"You're mission is…"

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE WITH MEWTHREE<strong>

She woke up sweating.

It was that dream again… the dream where she was with Xeno. The dream where he became her mate, a father to her children. A dream where they lived, with neither Absolix nor Giovanni, in solitude and complete bliss.

She gasped for air, trying to grab the last remnants of the happiness she experienced in her fantasy. Alas, this was reality. Reality did not contain her true love.

The thought that Xeno was the perfect mate for her unnerved her. A part of her was suspicious, but it was drowned by the other part who genuinely felt something for the stoic Pokemon. Her heart raced, but she quietly settled down so that she could get on with her life.

And then she saw it.

To her left, less than ten meters away, was the bar of soap. The same soap who had attacked her consistently when Cascade City was still blanketed in darkness. Absolix had fixed that problem recently, but the soap still remained.

She could feel it watching her, deciding whether or not to attack the pink haired psychic. Mewtwo jumped awake, standing up and getting into a fighting position. She stared at the white impurity with a mix of anger and fear.

A full minute passed with the contestants standing still. At the end, the soap apparently decided it wasn't worth it's time, and hopped away into the central building. Mewthree breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hi Mewthree!" a voice to behind her cried. She turned around and saw two figures- rabbit and bird like in appearance, standing upright with giant forearms. One was brown and the other was dark blue colored.

"What are you still doing here? Shouldn't you leave already?" asked the blue one, clearly disappointed.

"Yami, that's mean! She's Absolix's apprentice now remember?"

"Absolix doesn't need to waste his time on her!" huffed the girl. Yumi, the brown one, sighed.

"You'll have to forgive Yami, she isn't very nice."

"I AIN'T A NICE POKEMON." smiled Yami creepily.

When Absolix had turned on the giant light bulb up above them it lit up the dimension, allowing Mewthree to see the members of Neo- Genesis and Cascade city itself. Before her were the twins- or at least she thought they were twins- Yumi and Yami. They could apparently blast things from their giant forearms, and were for some reason attached to a chain with their other forearms.

Cascade City itself was larger than Mewthree imagined. It was circular in design, ranging for about four square city blocks. In the middle and to the right was the only building in the city- a giant mansion similar in design to the Hall of Origin, which housed the beds of all the Neo-Genesis members.

Though the dimension was white all over, Mewthree found it was impossible to fall. Apparently, Absolix had warped space in the world so that if you fell, you would eventually fall back to Cascade City.

"Hey, we're talking to you dumbass!" Yami's shout brought Mewthree's attention. Mewthree blinked a couple times and Yumi politely repeated the question.

"How are you enjoying Cascade City so far?"

A few words came to mind. Like torturous. Hellish. And there was of course, the soap. But instead Mewthree answered this: "Well, I'm still waiting for Absolix to train me."

"Mewthree!" another voice, this time it was Schrocat, the little paradox himself "Here, I have a letter for you!" Mewthree took it and read the letter.

_"Dear Mewthree,_

_I'd be here to tell you in person but I have pressing matters to attend to in Unova. It has come to my attention that even after a week you still have not managed to defeat the bar of soap. My dear girl, if you can't even beat a hygienic tool then I'm afraid my training methods will be far too advanced for you to take._

_Contact me when you beat the soap, we'll talk training then._

_~Absolix_

_PS: I'm handsome._

_PSS: You ought to stop dreaming of Xeno. It will distract you and also it clearly another attempt by Giovanni to use you._

_PSSS: You talk in your sleep. It's quite cute._

Mewthree turned red. Absolix heard all that! And moreover, she talks in her sleep! Yumi and Yami, who were reading over her shoulder, laughed and Mewthree became even more red. Before anyone could comment, Mewthree floated away to gain some privacy.

_'Absolix…!'_ growled Mewthree in her mind _'Listening to me in my sleep…how low can he…'_

She paused in mid thought. Mewthree just noticed a small sentence written in pencil on the back of the letter. It read _'Touch here'_. Hesitantly, she touched it.

_"Testing testing 1, 2, 3. Is it working? Can the lovely Mewthree hear my voice?"_

_"IT'S ON YOU FREAKING MORON!"_

Voices in her head the instant she touched it.

_"Beta, you do this._

_Uh, o-okay… um… listen, Mewthree… Absolix, he's um, going to be out tomorrow so we can talk then… um… 7:00? Yeah, come then. We'll explain everything then…"_

_"There, now turn it off."_

_"Oh Mewthree, how I await your feminine grace to bless us with your presence!"_

And then the voice stopped. A prerecorded telepathic message, apparently. Mewthree crumpled up the letter and threw it into a nearby trashcan. So that was their game. Who exactly were those stranger who looked exactly like Absolix? And what were they planning?

Tomorrow, she supposed she would find out.

From the corner of her eye, Mewthree spied the soap, lurking behind a corner. She got into a fighting stance.

* * *

><p>"-and that is your mission." Erma finished her long winded speech "Any questions?"<p>

A pause in the room. "How to put this…" Cresselia said nervously "We'll need another explanation…"

"What? But why?" Erma asked angrily.

"Because you explained it off-screen, the audience doesn't know what we're doing here. You need to tell us again for exposition's sake."

"Screw exposition! That was a long speech darn it!" cried a frustrated Erma "Hastings, you explain it to them!"

"WHAT?"

"IS YOR HEARING AID STILL NOT FIXED!"

The old people began yelling at each other again. The members of Calestia sighed, figuring it would be another ten minutes before they regained themselves.

"What do we do until then?" questioned the seven foot tall brown bat. Mewtwo had a suggestion.

"We could blow up the Ranger headquarters."

"Don't even think about it Mewtwo…" Cresselia muttered.

Mewtwo thought about it.

He grinned.

"CELEBI!" everyone yelled in fear.

Celebi warped in through a portal. Darkrai and the others were astounded that she managed to hear them five floors down and through solid concrete.

"Actually no. Mewtwo destroys the Ranger headquarters five minutes from now. So I teleported through time to make sure it doesn't happen."

Everyone paused.

"How do I do it!" Mewtwo asked in wonder. Celebi sighed, and refused to tell, stating it was the most horrible and cruel thing she had ever witnessed in her life. She decided to stay, but was uncomfortable being surrounded by all the technology and general lack of nature in the headquarters.

"Don't worry Erma, I'll explain it!" said Hastings, now back to normal. "Now then, let me repeat your mission…

Basically, Pokemon have been strangely for some odd reason! They have been attacking people, other Pokemon, and even stealing things. We don't know why this is, so we would like you to investigate. That is all.

Oh yeah, go to Vientown, apparently one of our Ranger bases spotted something."

Hastings was finished with the exposition, which pleased Cresselia and probably the audience too. Calestia had their orders- now it was time to execute them with Mewtwo and Celebi's supervision.

With gusto, the Calestia group walked/floated/glided/levitated downstairs, carrying themselves with pride knowing that they had an important mission to attend to. When they left, Hastings whispered to chairwoman Erma "I didn't hear anything about an incident in Vientown…"

"That's because I just made it up to get them away from me."

"Oh! Wait… that's kind of mean." Hastings frowned

"Well they're kind of annoying."

* * *

><p><strong>ONE HOUR LATER<strong>

Vientown was only a short walk away from the Ranger Union. Soon Calestia had arrived at Vientown's ranger base. The town itself was quaint and small, quiet with harmony in the air. Here houses lay next to the great Vien Forest, nature and technology perfectly mingled.

The ranger base itself was colored red, white and blue, a bit of an oddity within the normal tan colored houses. A dark skinned man was outside the door, and he smiled upon their arrival.

"Aha! You must be the help Erma requested!" he spoke through his Styler, which had a built in communicator. The human was male, large and imposing yet jolly and kind. He shook Cresselia's hand vigorously "Name's Barlow. This here is the ranger base in Veintown! Actually the only base in Almia…"

They followed Barlow inside, where he introduced them to the rest of the team. Barlow himself was the leader of this base, his subordinates included Crawford: a young man with an incredible large afro, a grinning face and a knack for joking around. The second was Luana, a black haired girl with a cute Buneary for a partner. There was also Elaine, a girl not dressed in ranger uniform but instead burly oversized mechanics clothes, busily working on something.

"There's also one more person stationed here." grinned Barlow, "You ought to know her very well…"

"Thank for introducing us Barlow." Cresselia said kindly, "But we didn't come here for chitchat. Mrs. Erma said that there was some sort of emergency here, and we were sent to help."

"That's right! Just name the vile fiend responsible for this and we'll attack him with malicious intent." Gallade extended his forearm blades. Barlow and the other paused, looking at each other.

"Uh… there is no emergency. We kinda just thought you were stopping by." said Crawford.

"IT'S DARKRAI ISN'T IT?" Gallade yelled.

"Wait wha-" Darkrai was immediately tackled and the two began fighting Crawford and Luana tried to stop them, but they were traveling too fast and were too powerful for their partner Pokemon.

"Eh, it's okay." Cresselia motioned as the two went out the door "They do this a lot, they'll be fine."

"…if you say so…" said Barlow. "By the way, Luana, tell them about the 'rule'."

"Rule?" Luana went over to them and whispered something.

"We have a rule here in this base… don't ever mention the phrase 'Target Clear' around Barlow."

"Huh?" Malispite said incredulously "Why can't we mention target clear?"

"TARGET CLEEEAAAARRRR!" Barlow suddenly shouted, hitting Malispite with every ounce of his power sending the brown bat flying through the roof. As everyone stared in surprise, Barlow blinked.

"I did it again…" he said sadly.

"That's why." finished Luana. At that moment, Malispite came through the door, followed by Gallade and Darkrai, who apparently settled out their differences.

"What'd I miss?" asked the prince of darkness.

"Apparently you can't say the phrase target clear around Barlow." Gliscor shrugged.

"TARGET CLEEEEEAAARRR!" another head-butt later and this time it was Gliscor who smashed through the ceiling, Darkrai and Gallade staring in awe at the power of a mere human.

"…Got it…" said Darkrai. Gliscor came back to them, but unbelievably, he was grinning.

"Guys, guess who I found!" he said excitedly. Following him was brown haired human with a yellow bandana across her forehead. She had deep blue eyes and a somewhat serious look on her face. She wore the standard red ranger vest, with a sleeveless white T- shirt under it. She wore black and gold shorts with a Ranger Styler attached to her left hip.

"Kairi!" Ruby cried, shoving everyone aside to hug her partner. Kairi hugged her back, laughing from it all.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Kairi grinned, finally back on the team. She was met with several smiles, a thumbs up from Darkrai, and a small Zap Cannon being fired off by Malispite.

"And with you Calestia is complete." Cresselia smiled. Kairi paused.

"Calestia?"

"It's our new team name!" said Gardevoir, "And now it's finally complete."

They did it again. They managed to once again swindle Kairi as one of them despite the fact she was a human. However, this time Kairi found she didn't mind it as much. "Well, I'm back, and it's nice to see all of you again."

Cheers rang through the ranger base as everyone celebrated the return of their brown haired human.

And then Mitsurashi Zero came in.

"ZERO!" All the Pokemon in the room shouted in fear, even the partner Pokemon. Zero merely closed his eyes and sighed. Kairi quickly tried to calm everyone down.

"Don't worry… he's captured!" she said happily.

"Yep." Zero stated bluntly "I'm in Kairi's custody."

"With what!" Luana blared "Kairi, he has all eight of his Stylers and he isn't even gagged and blindfolded! Or locked in chains!"

"Actually she's doing something even worse than that to me…" Zero murmured "If I don't get captured, she won't feed me."

"Ouch." said Crawford, feeling his pain.

"Plus she blew up my STAG so now I can't exactly run away even if I tried." he shrugged. Kairi watched Zero carefully; this was only partially true. The main reason why Zero had given himself up so willingly had to do with the promise they made when they last fought…

_"I still have enough energy to escape. But if you swear never to mention my middle name to anyone, especially Darkrai, then I will let you capture me right now."_

_"…why?"_

_"He doesn't need me any more. He has new friends."_

Kairi knew that this was far from the truth. Zero was definitely hiding something about his past, but Kairi had made the deal anyway because it meant the safety of Pokemon worldwide.

"Darkrai…" it was at this moment did Zero realize Darkrai was in the room. He took a step forward and summoned a Styler "I want a rematch…"

"Anytime Zero! Bring it on!" Darkrai yelled back.

Zero was smacked upside the head by Kairi, and Darkrai was psychically thrown to the floor by Cresselia.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Kairi yelled angrily "IT TOOK AN ENTIRE MOVIE TO DEPICT YOUR LAST FIGHT! WE DON'T HAVE THAT KIND OF TIME!"

"Tch…" Zero muttered. Darkrai gazed at Zero, but looked away, still finding it odd how much Zero looked like his childhood friend.

"Wait a minute…" Crawford whispered to Barlow "Rematch? Does that mean…?"

"Yeah." Barlow whispered back "That guy right there, the black colored one, he's the one who took down Zero."

"Seriously?" Budew, Crawford's partner said "That's the guy who took down the most feared human in the world!"

"That's what Kairi said…" Luana's buneary said to Budew "He must be seriously strong…"

"Hey Barlow!" Kairi said, catching the attention of the ranger base leader "I'm going to show them around town if you don't mind."

"Go ahead, we've got nothing going on anyway." Barlow waved his hand in dismissal. Without another word, Kairi beckoned them all to follow her.

* * *

><p>Kurades: "Meanwhile with Kurades!"<p>

**HEY! YOU CAN'T DO THAT! I'M THE GUY WHO DOES THE TRANSITIONS AROUND HERE, BUB!**

"Shut up. I am the true God so I may do what I please." Kurades' black colored soul grinned. The black sphere cleared his throat before speaking.

"I have an imperative announcement!" he said, addressing his group.

"Gee, where have I heard that one before?" thief Weavile rolled her eyes.

"I have just realized that we don't have a group name." grinned the black sphere "So we need to get one right now!"

"Is this really important!" agent Slicer raised his hand impatiently.

"Of course it is! Kurades just said it was!" snapped Umbreon, still wearing a blue cape and gold crown while standing next to Kurades.

"Uh.. How about… SSSSSSSinister SSSSShadows…?" Banette asked in his hissing voice.

"I like your thinking but it's a bit too long." Kurades decided "Another one?"

"Yarg! Team Powder Monkey Scallywag!" suggested Captain Sharkbeard. Everyone stared.

"It's somethin' awesome in Pirate!" he added.

"I don't think so." Kurades' soul said, "Next? Weavile, how about you?"

"Urg… Team I Don't Want a Team Name." Weavile mumbled.

"Too long." said Kurades.

"Team darkness?" Slicer said.

"I like it… but it's missing something…" Kurades said. Suddenly, Banette had it.

"Atrum Futurum…" grinned the ghost type, "It means 'Black Future' in Latin…"

There was a pause in the room. Everyone looked at Kurades, who was thinking it over. "It's a bit long, but it flows. I like it! It shall be our new name!"

Clapping from everyone that they decided on a team name.

"Second order of business!" he continued "Unfortunately since I don't have a body I can't give you all my power to make you invincible! Sorry!"

"What is the power anyway?" Slicer asked.

"Yarg! Didn't ye see what Umbreon did to those landlubber agents!"

Slicer paused, his eyes growing wide. "That's the power!"

"Indeed. A cursed seal that makes you five times stronger." Umbreon grinned "That is the power of out master Lord Kurades…"

Weavile narrowed her eyes. She wanted that power badly. She needed to have revenge on that blasted green haired gardevoir. The one who had defeated her twice and had humiliated her so.

The blue colored weasel swore to make her pay with her life.

"Third order of business," Kurades continued happily "is that I'm in the process of getting a few more members for our group!"

"Who are they…?" Banette questioned.

"One of them is Mewtwo." Kurades grinned, "I have already implanted a seed in his mind. With a little coaxing, the powerful class Four shall join us…"

"Are you sure?" asked Slicer, who was smiling.

"Oh yes. It's only a matter of time…"

* * *

><p><strong>EPIC FORESHADOWING<strong>

Kairi gave them a semi-quick tour of the Vien Forest. It populated with mostly Pokemon, who gazed in awe at the 'city folk' Calestia. The forest itself was beautiful and green, lush with wildlife and flora. A simple dirt road led to the next city, Pueltown.

"Pueltown is the biggest city in Almia." Kairi explained as they walked past the border line between it and the forest. It was indeed big, skyscrapers abound, houses left and right, paved roads and even a second floor for the entire town. It sort of reminded them of Destiny, except Pueltown was not as big.

"And this is one of the most important places: a Ranger station." Kairi explained, pointing at a building in the center that resembled a ranger base "It has many useful functions such as recharging and repairing your Styler, as well as a save point to record yor progress!"

"Save what now?" asked Darkrai. Kairi rubbed her head awkwardly.

"Sorry… wrong tutorial." she smiled, "The last place we'll visit is Altru Tower, a new building that's to the north of-"

And then she arrived.

Her hair billowed in the soft wind, shining extravagantly in all seven colors of the rainbow while not taking away from her illustrious angelic blonde hair which smelled of fragrant roses. Her eyes were kaleidoscopic in appearance, shimmering with red, blue, purple and pink colors that captivated anyone who looked even slightly at their beautiful changing form. Her face was waiflike, with large full lips, thin eyebrows creased just above her illustrious eyes and a modest smile painted perfectly upon her lips that gave the impression of a goddess.

Her figure was dainty, thin and athletic with just a hint of body fat on her slim body. Her chest was large and feminine, revealed by a tight top with a V cut and a jade colored necklace in between her supple breasts. She had large womanly hips that swayed seductively to either side as she walked towards them with a feeling of holy beauty. She wore a mini skirt that creased slightly with each step, and some tight shorts under them that went to the middle of her succulent thighs.

She walked with her head held high, indicating confidence, her posture shifted forwards to indicate proudly that she was a female and wanted to show off her gorgeous body. When she spied Kairi a soft laugh escaped her lips, out of recognition and modest humor for the less attractive woman, practically feeling the envy that seethed from Kairi's comparatively ugly eyes.

Her calves were covered in a fishnet attire, giving way to more plain looking white shoes with blue soles. This implied that though she was more well off than most, she was also humble when it came to her delicate feet. Upwards on her left arm was a light purple colored tattoo that shimmered ever so slightly in the sun's rays. While most would consider tattoo's an ugly accessory, this particular one only seemed to enhance the woman's beauty by providing her with an air of mystery.

On her wrist was a golden bracelet given to her by her now deceased parents, serving as a reminder to the woman of her goals and aspirations. On the opposite wrist was the most intricate Styler ever created: a gauntlet extending past her forearm, gold and silver, with a large circular shaped grove for her pink and white Styler, with wings jutting out from the side in an elegant fashion, one black and one white. Her Styler gave away her importance as she finally reached her destination, standing next to the glaring brown haired ranger in envy of her appearance.

"Actually it's not envy…" Kairi said, "More like… rage."

"What the crap?" Gliscor said, ignoring Kairi "Did the author seriously just use four long paragraphs to describe one person?"

"It's give you an idea of how important I am." the new human said "For I…

I am Marriland Singapore Raven Sparklight Le-blanc Ariari Nina Tzu!" she declared in a superior voice "But you may call me by my short name: Mary Tzu."

"And just what are YOU doing here?" Kairi glared angrily at Mary.

"I was just saving the ninth dimension from a bunch of terrorists when I decided to return back to Earth to get into my bikini and bathe in the sun at the beach." Mary Tzu declared "But then I ran into you guys. So tell me, Kairi, who are your new friends?"

"We are Calestia!" Gallade smiled "I am Gallade! That is Gardevoir! She shall-"

"ZERO!" screamed Mary, suddenly latching and hugging the blonde haired dark Ranger with a huge hug "I've missed you so much!"

"Get off him…" Kairi said dangerously. Mary Tzu stuck out her tongue, but Zero insisted that she get off him anyway, to which the busty woman complied.

"Uh… I'm confused…" Mercifond whispered. As Mary Tzu and Kairi began arguing, Ruby began to explain.

"That's Mary Tzu." she began "She's Kairi's rival. And rival in love for Zero! They compete all the time, Kairi really doesn't like Mary because she brags about things a lot. Mary doesn't like Kairi because she's closer to Zero!"

"I… see." Cresselia said "She does come off a s a bit of a braggart."

Everyone else: "Yeah you're one to talk."

"Well I'll have you know…" Kairi grinned "That I'M the one who led the mission to capture Zero!"

A gasp from Mary Tzu. Her pride had been severely wounded. "How dare you! You led the mission without me! You broke the rules when you said you were going to Oblivia for a vacation, and for that you'll be punished later!"

"Actually they don't seem to care now that I'm captured." Zero pointed out "She won't be getting a punishment anytime soon."

"Yeah, so take that you stuck up hag!" Kairi jabbed a finger in Mary Tzu's collarbone.

"Oh please Kairi. I refuse to stoop to your level of idiocy…" she said in a royal tone "Even though everyone knows that the only reason you don't like me is because I'm more beautiful than you could ever be."

"Wait, I thought she wasn't going to stoop to Kairi's level…?" Malispite said, noting the insult.

"I shall now explain myself!" Mary Tzu declared to Calestia "You see, I am a Pokemon Ranger just like Kairi, except I'm way better. My Styler for instance can use any kind of attack I want! And I'm so kind to everyone that any Pokemon can be my partner Pokemon when I first meet them!

In addition to this, I come from a royal family, who hated me for being born prettier than them. So they tried to kill me but couldn't do it because I touched their hearts so they killed themselves instead. Now I hold a grief for killing my own parents when I was a baby…" she said quietly.

Everyone stared in confusion.

"I happen to be half demon, half-angel, half-Pokemon, half-robot, half-pirate, half-ninja, half-royal, half-commoner and half-neko." she continued "Because of this I can do things normal people can't do, such as…

I can talk to Pokemon, warp to other dimensions, fly, have ninja abilities like chakra. But that's only my bloodline, I can also transform into Pokemon, sing perfectly, and transform into Super Saiyan 5.

And as you could probably tell, I am the most beautiful woman in the world. I may look nineteen or so, but I'm really sixteen because I'm a bit more mature than… others…" Mary Tzu looked at Kairi when she spoke that last part "Specifically in the chest area."

"Oh big boobs aren't everything…" muttered Kairi.

"And also, this is a secret I don't normally reveal, but I am also Absolix's long lost cousin's friend's uncle's niece's college roommate's grandfather's second cousin twice removed." finished Mary Tzu. She looked over at the new Pokemon to see their reaction.

"I don't like this one…" Darkrai whispered to Gallade quietly.

"Impressed?" Mary Tzu chuckled "But remember, despite my appearance and vast superpowers, I'm really quite normal. Just better in every single way."

"Do you think she's delusional?" Gallade whispered back, "Or just desperate for attention?"

"Well that's… good." said Cresselia, also finding her behavior a bit suspicious. "I am Cresselia, that's my little brother Darkrai, Malisoite, Mercifond-"

"YOU!" Mary Tzu suddenly became angry, much to the shock of everyone, including Kairi. She stomped over and got into the white bat's face "I hate you even more than I hate Kairi!"

"Wha-?" Mercifond asked "What did I ever do to you!"

"The necklace." replied Mary Tzu harshly. Mercifond gazed down, her Chosen One necklace spread across her collar.

"…You mean my Chosen One necklace?"

"I was supposed to be the Chosen One!" Mary Tzu screamed "And you took it away from me!"

"Now hold up!" Malispite stepped forth "Sis is awesome at being the Chosen One! And she didn't steal it from anybody, the author gave it to her for being cool!"

"Oh really…" Mary Tzu narrowed her eyes "I'll be back…"

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE WITH CATACLYPTIC<strong>

Mary Tzu kicked open the door, surprising Cataclyptic as he wrote chapter thirty eight.

"How did you get in here?" he demanded.

"I broke the fourth wall!" Mary Tzu shouted "Now what this' about Mercifond being the Chosen One! You said it was going to be me!"

"Uh… funny thing about that." Cataclyptic said nervously "I kind of forgot in the middle of arc two and gave it to Mercifond instead…"

"YOU FORGOT? You're nothing but an inconsiderate jerk!" accused Mary Tzu.

"Well I WAS about to amend that," Cataclyptic sneered "but since you're being so whiny about it, I'm having second thoughts."

"You fix it right now and make me the Chosen One!" Mary Tzu harshly demanded.

"You know what? No. Mercifond can keep the necklace. She's much less rude than you are."

"WHY YOU-!"

"Now get back into my story!"

* * *

><p>Cataclyptic typed in a few things and Mary Tzu was back. She mumbled a something and then in a louder voice declared "Cataclyptic is nothing but a sad excuse for a writer. Therefore I simply don't care about being the Chosen One anymore."<p>

"Uh… okay?" said the white bat.

"But I still hate you." Mary Tzu pointed to Mercifond, who glared back.

"Hey I just realized something." Gardevoir pointed out, "Well, two things actually… where are Mewtwo and Deoxys first of all?"

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE IN THE RANGER HEADQUARTERS <strong>

"You're going to do what?" asked Deoxys.

"I'm going to capture a couple people in the Ranger Union and insert deadly poisons into them to see what happens!" Mewtwo chuckled.

* * *

><p>"And secondly… why is it that when Mary Tzu appeared the story has somehow become focused on her?"<p>

"Oh yeah, that's my other ability that I forgot to explain." Mary piped up "I can make all events within the series revolve around me. Not necessarily a bad thing, although it does get tiring rejected all those nice boys who want to date me… sadly, I'm only in love with one guy…" she eyed Zero seductively.

"Oh, would you guys like to hear about my exploits on previous missions that were way better than Kairi's?" asked the rainbow haired woman, earning a glare from Kairi.

"I can't believe I'm saying this…" Darkrai said to himself "but I really wish the plot would hurry up and get here…"

"TROUBLE!" it was Luana, who was screaming with eyes wide open. She hurried to them and caughter her breath, gasping out the news.

"Mewtwo tried to experiment on us with deadly poison!" she cried "But it backfired, caused a huge explosion and now the Vien forest is on fire! We need your help to put it out!"

"Hah! Compared to my previous mission in the ninth dimension, this one will be easy!" Mary Tzu declared. "No worried everyone, I got this!" she ran along the path towards the forest.

Luana paused, watching her run away "…so I see you've met Mary Tzu?"

"YES." everyone in Calestia mumbled.

* * *

><p><em>Dear Arceus,<em>

_I've gotten word that Reshiram and Zekrom have been defeated. Too bad I wasn't in Unova when this happened, otherwise maybe I could have stopped them…_

_Eh, that's all in the past now. Like you said, I've told Cobalion, Terrakion and Virizion to escort princess Meloetta back to Unova. I'm traveling with them as well, is there anything else you need?_

_Sincerely,_

_Your favorite Legendary~!_

Arceus was about to reply 'no', but then something in her clicked. The fastest way to get to Unova from Hoenn was through Almia. And that fact alone gave her an idea.

_Actually yes, there is something I would like for you to do. On your way to Unova, you'll pass through the Almia region I'm assuming? This is optional, completely up to you but…_

_If you would be so kind, I would like for you to train Darkrai._


	4. Insanity

Chapter thirty nine: Insanity

* * *

><p>"Alekandra… are you absolutely certain?" Arceus narrowed her eyes.<p>

"Yes, Arceus." he replied. They had gone to floor 99 of the Hall for an extremely private conversation "I am certain that the vision I had two weeks ago was my final vision."

Arceus widened her eyes. Seer's always had what they called a 'Final Vision' Basically, it was when their future predicting powers suddenly rose to a maximum, and they were able to see events that were particularly important in the near future. There were, however, two drawbacks.

As it's title implied, the final vision was the last time their powers could be used. Once the final vision happened, no more seer abilities. They were transferred to someone else. But even more was the second drawback- Seers only had their final vision when they were about to die.

"I don't know how much time I have left, Arceus." he said, "I need you to give me a teleportation stone. And I need you to contact Absolix, as he appeared in my vision as well."

"Tell me your vision once more, Alekandra."

The wizened old man sighed. He repeated his prophecy to Arceus.

"Beware the Escodia, for he watches all." Alekandra spoke "The Escodia knows the future."

With a breath, he continued.

"War will be upon us. Soon. I do not know with whom, but I have seen you fighting, Arceus. In the future, you must fight something that is neither human nor Pokemon. But you cannot beat it alone."

Arceus was confused about this part- if it wasn't human or Pokemon, then what was it? A robot or something?

"The war will be deadly." said Alekandra gravely "Many will die. However, I have seen a being called 'The One Winged Savior'. That being can end the war, but not the conflict. And at the end of the war, the One Winged Savior will die.

In addition, I have seen a vision of Helix. She will be back, she will want revenge upon you for your killings, Arceus.

The Accursed One, Kurades… the only way he can redeem his sins is through death, this is what I have seen.

And finally, I have seen Absolix. However I cannot tell you what I have seen about him, only he may know about it, this is what my vision declared.

There is one more thing: a phrase repeated in my mind again and again while these visions took place."

Arceus held her breath.

_"It began with Destiny."_ he said in a mystic voice _"And it will end with Destiny."_

"…I see." Arceus said quietly. War seemed to be indeed on the brink of the horizon, not only was Absolix released from his prison, but Kurades was also revived. Then, there of course Sapien City, but Arceus doubted they would be the ones to declare war…unless of course Neon was right and they had collaborated with Team Rocket. According to his information, the Rockets had developed some sort of super weapon designed to be stronger than Arceus.

They named it Xeno.

"Very well." the deity of Pokemon summoned a huge amount of power, and used her creation ability to create a small, blue diamond. Gasping for breath, she explained that this teleport stone could warp Alekandra to anywhere in the world.

The dark skinned seer thanked Arceus before using the gems power immediately. His first stop was in the Team Rocket base. He had an appointment with someone he had met in the past.

Gin Takamura.

* * *

><p>Mewtwo stared.<p>

Deoxys stared.

"…how the heck did you manage to make poison explode?" Deoxys finally asked.

"Ah well, I used a nitrogen compound that easily bonding with a methyl group. One spark was all it took." replied the purple skinned psychic.

"…and you did this because…?"

"Because it would explode." replied Mewtwo logically.

* * *

><p>"HOW THE HECK DID HE MAKE POISON EXPLODE!" cried Malispite as he flew through the flames of the Vien Forest. They had all been given their positions: Malispite was going to be the rescuer. Her was to fly through the forest at high speeds and save any and all Pokemon caught in the fire.<p>

Spying a budew down below, Malispite swooped down and scooped it up in his arms, along with a Shinx that he just spied. "Don't struggle and hang on!" he shouted, throwing them upwards. The two Pokemon cried furiously, but were caught by Mercifond, who then threw them to the edge of the forest where they made impact with a soft psychic bubble made by Cresselia.

"Go with the rest!" Cresselia commanded, the shinx and budew seeing many other Pokemon affected by the fire. They complied immediately and without word.

Mercifond and Gliscor surveyed the area above the fire, Malispite occasionally throwing them up some Pokemon to be saved. Darkrai was still on the ground, doing nothing simply because that was all he could do- he had no psychic powers, no Styler to capture a Blastoise that Kairi claimed was in the area, and if he tried to rescue someone they'd just suffer a horrible nightmare from his touch.

"Tch… well just what am I supposed to do then?" he glared at Cresselia.

"Just stay there and make sure nothing happens to the Pokemon!" Cresselia yelled back.

The plan, concocted by Cresselia was this: She and Gardevoir were on opposite ends of the relatively small forest creating psychic bubbles. Mercifond and Gliscor circled above to catch the lost thrown up by Malispite to in turn throw them into the bubbles. As all this occurred, Kairi stated that she was going to capture a Blastoise that apparently knew the Move Rain Dance, along with her partner Ruby. Mary Tzu went… somewhere else on her own, she never clearly said where she was headed.

And this of course left Darkrai, the nightmare Pokemon, left to do nothing.

"Screw this!" Darkrai finally said "I'm going to find Kairi and beat up the Blastoise!"

Before the lunar swan could argue he turned into a shadow and zoomed into the forest. Cresselia cried something about her brother being too impulsive, but this did not slow down the prince of darkness.

* * *

><p>"Damn it's hot in here…" said Darkrai, who felt the heat from the fire even in shadow form "Now where the heck is that human…?"<p>

Unfortunately, Darkrai had no idea where to go. Dodging a couple fallen logs, warping from shadow to shadow, Darkrai soon found himself lost. "Crap. Wait…"

Darkrai had an idea: he would concentrate on all the shadows in the area. Whichever ones moved had to be attached to living things, namely Kairi and/or the Blastoise. He concentrated, and soon enough, there was a shadow moving back and forth "Aha!"

With gusto the pitch black Pokemon sped to the source. He arrived in no time at all "Freeze Blastoise, for I, Darkrai have come to defeat you!"

There was no Blastoise. Not even a Kairi. Instead there was reddish brown haired human with black shorts and a blue and white shirt.

"…uh…" Darkrai said, confused.

"OH NOES!" the guy cried out, panicking "THEY'VE DISCOVERED I WAS TRYING TO PUT A GIGAREMO IN THE VEIN FOREST BEFORE IT INEXPLICABLY CAUGHT ON FIRE AND RUINED THE MACHINE!"

"…Uh…" Darkrai said, confused, eyeing a red machine that was broken "Uh, EXACTLY! Yor coming with me bub!"

"And now there's a monster after me!" screamed the man, who did not understand Darkrai's Pokenese.

"Sleepy time!" Darkrai merely touched the guy, who fell asleep almost instantly and began having nightmares. Darkrai slung him over his shoulder "And Cresselia wanted me to do nothing!"

* * *

><p>"GRAAAHHH!" said Blastoise, spouting Hydro Pumps in every direction. He had become angry and confused because of the fire, and also because his son Wartortle was missing. "Where are you Wartortle!" he cried.<p>

Ruby set up a shield which blocked the onslaught of water and Kairi combo'd by looping around Blastoise three times before Blastoise spat water in all directions. Kairi's Styler was hit, the meter now reading 11/25.

"Ruby, psychic assist now!" Kairi commanded. The blue haired gardevoir concentrated and levitated the confused water type in the air, to which Kairi used by looping five times around the turtle esque Pokemon. Blastoise shot blindly at her Styler, to which the female Ranger carefully maneuvered around the spouts to loop him once more.

Ruby had to let go of the blastoise, who landed on the ground and fired an Ice Beam at them. Kairi dodged to the side and looped around the blastoise once again, this time causing Blastoise to clutch his head.

"I've got him!" the ranger wielded her Styler to orbit around the Blastoise five more times. A white light shone, and suddenly Blastoise was calm.

"Oh my… I'm sorry human, I thought you had taken my son away." he apologized.

"You're son is safe!" Kairi said through her Styler "But I need your help! I need you to use Rain Dance to stop this fire from spreading!"

"Alright, I'll do it!" Blastoise said. He began concentrating, water energy filling his body. Soon the clouds turned grey, then black. There were a couple streaks of lightning, but in no time rain was pouring onto the Vien Forest.

The fire never stood a chance- Blastoise's rain quenched it so fast that there was barely a fight. With a large hiss the red and orange flames evaporated into harmless steam, the Vien Forest fire was gone.

"We… we did it!" Kairi shouted through the rain "Thank you Blastoise!"

"No problem!" smiled the water type "Now where's my son?"

"He'll be at either of the two rescue sights, I guarantee it." Kairi gave a thumbs up.

"Follow us!" Ruby said, "By the way can you make the rain a bit less wet? We fire types don't like rain you know."

* * *

><p><strong>TWO HOURS LATER<strong>

Calestia stood sopping wet in the ranger base at Vientown. Grins were plastered upon their faces- the forest fire had been successfully averted and no one had gotten hurt.

"TALK YOU!" Barlow shouted.

Well, except for the guy Darkrai dragged in. He was acting very suspicious around everyone; Malispite had brought in the strange red machine, and the guy refused to say what it was. Or anything for that matter, the prince of darkness had apparently scared him so much with his nightmares that he lost the ability to speak.

"I SAID TALK!" he was currently tied up to a pole, trying his best to speak, but no words came out.

"Way to go Darkrai." Cresselia remarked.

"Hey! I brought him in didn't I!" Darkrai complained, "Besides, the dude's obviously suspicious. Just look at that machine!"

"He tried his best Cresselia…" spoke up Gardevoir "You shouldn't blame him for having nightmare powers…"

"…" Cresselia narrowed her eyes "Fine. Darkrai, I apologize."

Everyone gaped.

**HOLY SH*T. DID CRESSELIA ACTUALLY APOLOGIZE FOR SOMETHING?**

"OH SHUT UP YOU STUPID NARRATOR!" Cresselia yelled to the heavens. The truth was, something inside her had changed. Cresselia had vowed to be less harsh to her little brother ever since Arceus' talk…

* * *

><p><em>FLASHBACK<em>

_"Pack your bags Cresselia! Get your team ready and say your goodbyes!_

_You're going to Almia!" her mother said happily._

_"Wh-what!" Cresselia was surprised, completely caught off guard by Arceus' words "A mission! An actual mission!"_

_"That is correct, Cresselia. Gather your brother and your friends, because you depart in two days."_

_"If-if you say so." Cresselia tried to act cool "B-But I don't think we'll need Darkrai along, he'll just mess everything up with his nightmare powers."_

_Cresselia smiled, it was meant to be a joke. Arceus took it rather seriously._

_"Cresselia, I want to talk to you about your attitude towards Darkrai." she said, "I realize you two are in a sibling rivalry stage, but that doesn't excuse rudeness."_

_Cresselia paused. "Oh… I'm sorry…"_

_"Cresselia, your brother has it very hard. Even you have to admit that."_

_Cresselia looked downwards. Yes, she had seen the way others treating Darkrai, the name calling, the fear and the hate. Her brother was disliked by almost everyone who met him._

_"Take care of your brother." Arceus said wisely "Darkrai has the tendency to blame himself for everything and shoulder everyone's problems. You need to act like a responsible sibling and remind him who he is."_

_"Alright…"_

_"Promise?"_

_"Okay. I promise." Cresselia said sincerely._

* * *

><p><em>END FLASHBACK<em>

"Never mind the brown haired human." Darkrai said, wide eyed "It's Cresselia we should to be suspicious of!"

"Oh just let it go." The lunar swan was annoyed.

Meanwhile, Barlow, Luana and Crawford had tried everything to get Ollie to speak. Barlow tried yelling at him, Crawford tried tickling him, and Luana tried staring at him for a long time. Neither method worked.

"He refuses to talk." the large Barlow stated "Therefore we have no other option. We must call upon the torture master."

"But Barlow! That person might get him killed!" said Luana defensively.

"Luana, we have no choice." Crawford stated seriously. Calestia stared at the three humans. Torture master? Just who was the torture master? With a loud yell, Crawford called

"ELAINE! WE NEED YOU TO TORTURE SOMEBODY!"

Through the door burst the woman with a red bandana and black baggy pants. Her hair was in dreads that spread across all sides, a single wrench in her hand. "Who and how?"

"This oil-reeking-stinking guy and we don't care how!" Barlow ordered. The oil reeking stinky guy looked at Elaine in fear.

"Well then, let's do this." Elaine cracked a grin.

* * *

><p><strong>MEWTHREE<strong>

The pink furred psychic crept silently into the mansion in Cascade. She floated silently down the long hall, at seven o cloak precisely, and came across Absolix's chambers. Not knowing what to expect anymore, she knocked on the door.

"Hello?" Absolix said on the inside.

"Um… you wanted to speak to me?" Mewthree said, as Absolix's voice appeared to be normal. In an instant she was sucked into the room and someone locked the door.

"Thank Arceus for tape recorders…" said 'Beta', the Absolix with blue colored tattoo's. He held a tape recorder in his hand "Um, uh, hi Mewthree."

"Alright, explain." Mewthree was blunt, crossing her arms and waiting.

"Uh, okay so we all agreed, um…" stuttered the Absolix look alike "That well… it would be easier to explain if you saw all of us…"

Mewthree raised an eyebrow "All of us?"

Beta extended a hand "T-T-Take my hand!"

Mewthree raised another eyebrow, Beta stared at her nervously.

_"TAKE THE DAMN HAND YOU B*TCH!" _screamed a voice that made Mewthree cringe. With hesitation, she took his hand.

Instantly the room faded around her. The lights vanished, the bed was gone, and everything was replaced by blackness. The deep blackness was only pierced by six figures standing on nothing.

And they were all Absolix.

Mewthree stepped backwards, one figure looking like Absolix was fine, _but six_? This was inconceivable, irrational and it made her slightly afraid.

"Mewthree, do not panic." said an Absolix with dark green tattoos wearing glasses "Sit down. We can explain everything."

"There's nowhere to sit!" retorted Mewthree inside the endless darkness. The six looked at each other.

"Dude, she like, has a point." argued an Absolix with orange tattoo's "There like, nothing here man. We ought to like, fix that."

Mewthree simply stared.

"I'm still against this idea completely…" said an Absolix with grey colored tattoos.

"Leave it to me!" said a disturbing Absolix with pink coloring. In an instant, the room turned white. And another instant, they were back in Absolix's room, only it was much wider and spacious "How's that dear? Isn't it wonderful!"

"No one cares what you think Epsilon!"

"Sh-shouldn't we e-explain everything now?" piped up the Absolix with blue tattoos, Beta.

In an instant, there were seven chairs. Six belonged to the Absolix's, and Mewthree sat in her own.

"Okay…" she took a deep breath "What… the hell… is going on here!" honestly freaked out.

"Let me introduce you…" said a purple colored Absolix, looking at her pridefully "That is beta, the blue one, Gamma, the gray one, Delta, the gold, Epsilon, pink, Theta, orange and Xi, green.

And I am Alpha, the only one you need to remember~" he flirted, giving Mewthree a wink that sent shivers down her spine "Just ask me for anything baby…"

"Yes, that is who we are." Xi, the dark green one said "Now for what we are. Mewthree, please do not be shocked at what I am about to tell you:

We are Absolix's other personalities."

Mewthree blinked. "What?"

"Multiple personality disorder, dudette." said the orange one lazily, "It's when like, you're more than one person inside your head, man."

Mewthree blinked. "What! You all are his other selves! There are six of you!"

"Seven man…" Theta corrected. The other six glared at him "'cause, yanno, Absolix?"

"S-So yeah, we are Absolix's other personalities…" Beta twiddled his fingers.

"Mewthree, we are about to divulge a secret to you than no one else but we know." Xi said seriously.

"That Absolix is bat sh*t insane?" Mewthree looked upon them in horror.

"Pretty much, dudette." Theta replied "So like, we need you to like, fix it."

"And if you fail then we get to kill you." smiled the grey one, Gamma.

"I-I don't like her!" the gold one said, hiding behind his chair instead of sitting in it.

"Excuse us for a moment." Xi said, before all six of them vanished. Mewthree was left alone in this false version of Absolix's chambers.

"Okay…" Mewthree took in a deep breath "The guy I'm working for has multiple personality disorder… six of them… six of them…"

The six warped in, minus the gold one and the grey one.

"There. Now, onto the story." Xi titled his glasses "You see, one day Absolix, the original one I mean… well something happened to him. It's confidential.

Basically it shook up his mind so much that it created six other personalities of himself. Technically seven. We all share the same mind, Absolix is very much aware of our presence, and when he is gone we take over his body until he gets back. Such is now."

Mewthree stared. "What do you mean by 'the original one'?"

Beta cleared his throat "Mewthree… the Absolix you have come to know is not the real Absolix. He is like us, a copy of the original.

…Mewthree, have you noticed anything strange about us?" Xi inquired. The female psychic blinked, realizing something.

"Yes… you all are vastly different in terms of personality." Mewthree stated "It's almost like…"

"W-We can only have one emotion…?" Beta nervously smiled "Yeah, y-you guessed right…"

"You see Mewthree, all of us represent a certain emotion Absolix has lost. When his mind divided, it also divided his emotions.

I, Xi, represent logic. Theta over there represents passion. Beta, obviously, nervousy. Alpha is love, Gamma is aggression, Delta is fear and Epsilon is joy."

"Isn't it great how it's so neatly divided?" smiled the pink one happily. Mewthree begged to differ.

"So basically… you all… are the emotions Absolix lacks?" Mewthree said, it actually explaining a thing or two about Absolix's erratic personality.

"Not exactly." Xi explained, "You see, the order in which we were split from the original Absolix matters. The order, you see, determines which emotions Absolix can feel stronger or weaker.

I, for instance, Xi, was the last personality to be split. As such, Absolix can still be quite logical, despite his… usual erratic behavior. But if you trail down the reverse order we were created, he feels that emotion less and less."

"I… see…" Mewthree said nervously.

"Staring from Delta, the fourth personality created, Absolix can hardly feel those particular emotions. He lacks nearly any and all aggression, fear, nervousy and of course the first one that was split."

"Love." said Alpha sadly "Twas' I that was split off first. Alas, this means Absolix feels no love, despite being surrounded by such beautiful women…"

A Pokemon who couldn't feel fear, aggression, be nervous or fall in love? This sounded more and more confusing every second she was inside this world. Mewthree looked down at the floor, actually feeling bad for Absolix. No love? How could he live? Mewthree's life could hardly be called a life before she met Xeno…

"That… explains a lot…" the pink psycat muttered. She had never seen Absolix afraid, angry nor nervous in the entirety that she knew him.

"And as stated earlier, the Absolix you know is not the real Absolix." Xi narrowed his eyes "Sadly, he too in another personality. After the split, it was only he who retained more than one emotion, so early on we decided that he should be the main personality as to not arouse suspicion. His true name is Sigma."

"So you've brought me into this…" Mewthree stated "Why? You said you would use me to help you, what could I do?"

"We need you to fall in love with Absolix!" said Epsilon.

A pause.

"WHAT?"

"Epsilon, I told you, that was only ONE of the plans." Xi sighed.

"I HAVE TO DO WHAT!" the psycat was red in the face, completely disturbed by the idea.

"Calm down Mewthree." said the Absolix with green symbols, "Let us explain in further depth what our plan is."

"Th-The g-goal is to restore Absolix back to normal…" Beta twiddled his fingers, "See, we're all the same person, right? So, uh, if-if we were to somehow combine with… with Sigma, then we would have the original personality."

Mewthree blinked. It made sense, but what did falling in love have to with all of this?

"So you see, Mewthree," Beta tilted his glasses "we have naturally been trying this for well over fifty years and have had no success. We have tried very hard to get him to experience our emotions, thus we would combine with him and become one again."

"The key, my dear, is that we need two forces." Alpha, the purple one said coyly, "We can only provide the internal voice to try and make him experience emotions. However we think that we also need an external force outside this body for it to work. Hence why we need your help…"

"Falling in love would be the best probable action." stated Beta, "Since it's the first emotion Absolix lost, it should have a domino effect on the rest of us. However from your reaction earlier, you are against the idea."

The pink furred Pokemon made an X with her fingers, a definite no-no to fall in love with her crazy boss.

"Oh, won't you reconsider?" Alpha frowned, "The real Absolix is a nice guy, he'd treat you right and make you happy. And hey, I'll be a part of the real Absolix so you'll know that I'm not lying!"

"NO."

"You see, I told you that she wouldn't comply with the first plan." the glasses Absolix told the others. He looked at Mewthree and muttered "Despite the compatibility between her and us…"

"Next plan yays!" Epsilon clapped his hands excitably.

"Very well then, we'll try another emotion." Beta motioned to Mewthree "We need to start with one of the four that Absolix does not feel much at all. Since love is crossed out, that leaves nervousy, fear and aggression."

"Alright…" Mewthree decided she might as well go with the plan, after all they could mind wipe her or something if she did not "I'll see if I can make him nervous or afraid or whatever…"

"Excellent. In that case we'll send you back out."

"Good luck Mewthree!"

"Y-Yeah, what Epsilon said…"

"ZZZzzzzzzZZZzz…" Theta was asleep. With a snap, Mewthree was out of Absolix's mind and back into reality. Beta, who was controlling Absolix's body now, ushered her out of the room before anyone could see them.

"A-And don't tell S-Sig… Absolix about any of this!" he closed the door tightly.

Inside the room, Beta breathed heavily. That woman made him more nervous than he normally was. He closed his eyes, and back in the shared mind was all six of Absolix's alternate personalities.

"Finally gone…" breathed Gamma.

"She scares me…" Delta whimpered, hiding behind his grey colored companion.

"I like her!" said Epsilon, joyfully.

"You like everyone." sneered the grey colored personality.

"And you hate everyone." rebutted the dark green Absolix, "All and all, I think we preformed well. We managed to get Mewthree on our side."

"Y-Yeah!" Beta tried to sound happy.

"And soon, Absolix's original personality shall be restored…" sighed Alpha, smiling "And then he can finally experience the joys of love…"

"But what about… him…" the gold one pointed to something in the distance. All the others narrowed their eyes, and even Theta awoke from his slumber.

"We leave him." growled Gamma.

"But dude, he's, like, a part of us too yanno?"

"To answer your question, it will not matter." Beta titled his glasses "Omega was created last, after Sigma. If we can complete Sigma, then the domino effect will combine him with Omega as well. He won't have a choice, nor any power to resist."

"B-But that's just a theory… right?" the gold one was afraid.

"It should work…" Xi muttered, unsure of his own hypothesis.

"Of course it will work!" the pink one was optimistic "And when it does we'll all be one happy family sharing one brain again!"

I hope you're right, Epsilon…" Beta looked down "I really hope so…"

* * *

><p>The rainbow colored phoenix flew. He flew far above the clouds, dangerously close to Rayquaza's domain in the ozone layer. They were friends of course, but the green dragon had the tendency to overreact when he sense something amiss in 'his' airspace.<p>

Ho-oh's great red wings propelled him further and further into the vast blue sky. For almost an hour he soared without rest, until he came across what appeared to be a white building in the sky.

This was Sky Domain, a place created by Rayquaza for him to rest when it was night time, as apparently sleeping on the ground was a bad thing for the guardian of the atmosphere. Of course, the green dragon allowed full use of his Sky Domain for the other Legendary's, being so spacious.

Ho-oh flapped his wings, descending carefully onto the clouds, finally planting his claws on the soft, almost bubbly surface of the place. Ho-oh stood there, motionless for a minute. He took one step forward and a voice called out to him.

"Ho-oh." the voice came from a great white bird Pokemon, standing with its back facing the rainbow phoenix. Ho-oh stared at this majestic Pokemon, finally addressing it as well.

"Lugia."

The two brothers stood in silence. Neither moved for another full minute.

"I hear you met Cresselia."

"Yes. She's grown. Very much so, I could hardly believe it was her."

"Well it's been ten years." Ho-oh replied, "And its been almost five for me."

Another silence passed. Ho-oh could hear a soft jingling noise from Lugia's clear bell he wore across his neck. Finally, the rainbow phoenix could hold it in no more "Are you back?"

There was a slight pause before the guardian of the sea answered "No. My affliction grows worse with each passing day. It is almost unbearable now.

My quest in Fiore led nowhere. Their sacred temple could not help."

Ho-oh growled angrily at this "You look fine brother! You're obviously overreacting."

With a sigh, Lugia turned around. Facing his brother, the red phoenix became wide eyed. One of Lugia's eyes was blood red with yellow irises. Patches of dark colored feathers surrounded it.

"Am I?" repeated Lugia, still calm. Ho-oh regained his composure.

"Yes. Now let me come with you this time, we will find a cure."

"No." the white swan said, "I 'turn' more frequently than ever. My bouts of rage cannot go unnoticed for long. Nor can the countless people I've injured searching for a cure."

"But you still haven't killed yet!" Ho-oh declared angrily, "You still have self control!"

"But for how long!" Lugia's deep voice resonated the clouds. The white bird sighed, trying to remain emotionless "How long, brother?"

"As long as I-"

"No." the great white beast stood firm "Ho-oh, I came upon the surface for one reason only. I need to tell you something."

"What?"

"…" Lugia paused, his beak pursed open slightly "Ho-oh… I recently had a human examine me. One of the secret agents, Coder.

According to his research into my affliction, I have less than a month."

Ho-oh's eyes widened. He tried to stammer out something, but his mouth could not keep up with his mind.

"There is one more place." Lugia finally said, "Orre. It may hold the cure. It shall be my final quest. Here is what I came to say to you:

Should I fail, tell the others that they won't see me again. Especially tell Cresselia."

"What are you saying Lugia?" Ho-oh blared "You won't fail! You never fail at anything, remember! I'm coming with you on this one. I'll make sure whatever's in Orre works."

"No, I can't risk 'turning' when I know someone is around me!" Lugia barked

"And I can't watch my brother suffer for my mistake." Ho-oh said lowly. There was a pause between the two great birds. Black eyes met red ones, neither refused to give way.

"This is my last mission." Lugia repeated "Should I fail… then I will be forced to kill myself."

"No." said Ho-oh, "I won't let you!"

"I'm sorry, my brother." Lugia spread his wings "This is a choice that only I can make."

Suddenly, Lugia tipped over backwards and fell straight down. Ho-oh growled at his brother, he too falling in a vertical path trying to reach his twin. However, down below was the great sea, and without stopping, the swan dove into it until the rainbow guardian could not see him anymore.

"He used the trenches…!" Ho-oh realized, "With all that water on top of him… no wonder none of us could ever track him down…"

That was the end of it. Lugia was gone, probably kilometers away by now. His brother cursed fate, and he too flew off. Only one thought was on his mind: whether he would see his twin again or not.

* * *

><p>Alekandra warped into the team rocket base. A few rockets were surprised at his appearance and tried to capture him. However Alekandra used the gems immense teleporting powers to dodge everything they through at him. In time, Alekandra had teleported to where he needed to be.<p>

A simple sign on the door read "Pandora". He opened it, earning the surprise of everyone in the room.

"Eh? Who's this geezer?" said a muscular man with purple hair.

"Doesn't matter. We told no one to disturb us." said a smiling woman with black hair "So since you broke that rule… you'll have to be our plaything…"

He was surrounded on all sides by menacing looking figures. They chuckled at the old man's misfortune, each gathering their power one a blow.

"Wait."

That one word stopped them. It came from their undisputed leader, the most powerful human on the planet. Said human stood up from his red chair, his long black hair falling into place, his golden colored eyes staring deeply at the aged African.

"Alekandra?" Gin parted his companions to the side "What are you doing here?"

Murmurs. This was Alekandra! They were about to kill the seer!

"Gin…" spoke the old man "Do you remember your prophecy I told you long ago?"

"Yeah." grinned the black haired man "Still can't find him though. Got a few suspects, ruled out Absolix. What about?"

"Gin, with my power I have seen your in the future." Alekandra said "Your prophecy… the person who you are destined to fight, in a battle that will shake the world…

It is almost time. Very, very soon, you shall meet that person."

Gin thought he couldn't grin any wider. The man in the black trench coat chuckled, giddy with excitement. "Finally… finally!" he shouted "A battle that I can go all out! A battle to put every other fight of mine to shame! I can't wait for it old man…"

"Alekandra?"

The voice belonged to Xeno, who had just walked by "There was only a thirteen percent chance you'd be here. I am logically surprised by this."

"Xeno…" Alekandra muttered "I have nothing for you. You're future is unknown to me."

"That is fine. I logically know the future." said Xeno, his four eyes staring deep into the old man's heart "My future is to kill Absolix. That is all I logically need to know."

With that, Xeno walked away and the old African teleported out of the Rocket base. Gin was still grinning from ear to ear, imagining what his opponent would look like.

"It could be Gliscor, also that Cresselia chick might also count. Maybe it's another member of Neo-Genesis… heheh… I wonder who I'm supposed to fight?"

* * *

><p>"I AM MARY TZU!" shouted the Sue as she entered the ranger base. For some reason she was in a bikini, and there was a beach ball in her hand. When asked about this unusual attire she replied "Oh, I had to go tan myself. Met a lot of cute boys at the beach, they all wanted to marry me the second they saw my smoking hot body.<p>

But sadly, I had to tell them there was only one man for me…"

Mary looked around, wondering where Zero was. At this, Kairi and the other also realized that Zero was gone.

"Oh shoot!" Kairi cursed, "Where did Zero go!"

"Hah, you lost him!" the rainbow haired woman pointed out "Don't worry, I'LL find Zero, and when I do, he'll love me for doing so~!"

"NO WAY! I'M FINDING HIM FIRST!"

"I WANT TO FIND HIM FIRST!" Ruby yelled, thinking this was a contest of some sort.

"NO WAY, I'M GOING TO FIND HIM!" screamed the seven foot tall brown bat, also thinking this to be a contest. The four raced off before anyone else could say another word.

"Well now that their all gone…"

"I REFUSE TO LET MALISPITE WIN AT ANYTHING!" Darkrai declared "I shall find Zero!"

"Darkrai don't! We don't need you missing too!" Mercifond scowled.

"Darkrai?"

A voice that no one knew. They looked around, seeing that it came from the open door. In walked a strange Pokemon they had never seen before- he was very small, only about two feet high, grandiose rabbit like ears accounting for half the height. His eyes were bright blue, his fur a tan color with orange mixed in. two white wings made up a tail, and a small fang was visible when he closed his mouth.

"Did I hear Darkrai?" he asked them.

"Wait, who are you?" Barlow asked the strange, suspicious.

"Oh me?" he laughed "Don't worry, I'm part of the Legendary Council. My name is Victini, pleased to meet you." he answered calmly.

"Victini…?" Cresselia said, never heard of this Pokemon being in their ranks before."

"I'm from Unova." he said to the blue and yellow swan "so I can't attend many meetings. So anyway, which one of you is Darkrai?"

"That would be me!" proclaimed the prince of darkness, "And what do you want with me?"

"Ah, Arceus said I needed to train you." Victini smiled.

"TRAINING! I DON'T NEED NO STINKING TRAINING, I'M ALREADY A CLASS THREE!"

"Darkrai, no one's buying it…" Gardevoir shrugged.

"I'm telling you, it's this stupid seal Dunsparce put on me!" he shouted back, pointing at a visible green colored seal on his wrist.

_'Hm. As rambunctious as Arceus said.' _thought the red rabbit "Alright, Darkrai, how about this? We'll do battle right now, and if you can beat me then I'll admit you're strong."

"Admit?"

"You look pretty weak to me."

"WHY YOU-!" Darkrai fumed. The prince of darkness cracked his knuckles "You're nothing but a shrimp! You probably can't even touch me!"

_'Isn't Master Dunsparce also tiny…?'_thought everyone in the room.

"You look even weaker than Malispite! And that's saying a lot 'cause he's weak!" Darkrai insulted the red colored rabbit "What do you say to that, huh!"

"V-Create." replied Victini happily.

"What?"

In an instant, Victini closed the distance between himself and the prince of darkness. Using fire energy that surrounded his forehead, he rammed Darkrai in the gut faster than anyone thought could be possible. Darkrai could not react, and he was thrown through the roof, hurtling towards an unknown destination.

"Sorry about the roof." Victini apologized, still as calm as ever. Everyone around him gaped at such raw power that he exuded in that last attack. He began to walk out the door "Maybe I won't train Darkrai after all. If he can't even get up from that then-"

But sure enough, the pitch black Pokemon was back. He held the door open, huffing loudly, char marks all over his burnt body.

"Oh look, he got back up." Victini smiled "Maybe you aren't as pathetic as I thought."

"I… will… NOT…" Darkrai gathered darkness energy to his fists "be defeated by a midget!"

"Searing Shot."

A large ball of flame erupted from the red rabbit's mouth, hitting Darkrai even though he fired a Dark Pulse at the blob. It seared through the prince of darkness' flesh and caused him to faint on the ground some meters away from the ranger base.

"Hm. Well would you look at that?" Victini walked out the door, "I wonder if this guy's even worth training?"

The small fire type Legendary picked up Darkrai and slung him over his shoulder, nightmares powers not affecting him due to the large gap of EP between them. "Well, I'll see you all later."

He calmly walked into the forest, Darkrai on his back the entire way. Calestia gaped.

"What just happened?" Gliscor asked.

"Darkrai got… beaten up easily…" was the only response the blue and yellow swan could think of. Cresselia knew that Darkrai was probably their most power member, so what did that make this strange rabbit from Unova?

Kairi, Mary Tzu, Malispite and Ruby suddenly returned. Malispite was carrying a Zero, bound in ropes, but looked grumpy.

"Hah, I won." Mary Tzu declared "I found my love first."

"Ruby and I captured him though." Kairi pointed out.

"It was fun!" the shiny gardevoir pumped her fists in the air. Mercifond flew over and told them they had missed Darkrai getting pummeled by some strange Legendary from Unova.

"WHAT!" Malispite questioned "Gliscor, did you record it!"

"Yep!" the purple bat grinned from ear to ear, holding up a camera "And it's all yours for 1,000 Pok'e!"

The brown bat eagerly handed over the money and began chuckling at the gathered footage. Cresselia shot the money grabbing bat Pokemon a sour look.

"What? I like money." Gliscor shrugged. The door in the range base suddenly burst open, the dirt covered mechanic having returned with the Oil-reeking-stinky guy. Elaine put him leaning against a wall and sighed as she walked up to the dark skinned base leader.

"I tried everything. I tried **CENSORED**, I tried **CENSORED** and I even had to use my **CENSORED** to **CENSORED** in his **CENSORED**. Nothing worked! The guy's immune to torture!" Elaine said in exasperation.

The Pokemon stared in fear. She did WHAT to that guy? They did not even want to think about it, the gruesome images, even when they were censored, were too much for them to take.

"Damn." Barlow snapped his fingers "So even after all that he still won't talk…"

"Well what do we do now?" Luana asked, "We tried tickling, we tried the good cop bad cop routine, we even tried extreme torture! What else is there that could make him talk!"

"Me, of course." said the rainbow haired Sue. She waltzed up to the prisoner, and bent down to reveal a bit of cleavage, her dazzling eyes fluttering at the man "Want to tell us everything now?"

The man paused. He was still mute from Darkrai's nightmare, he couldn't talk even if he wanted to!

"The guy's a douche." Mary Tzu immediately deduced after her feminine charms failed to captivate him "I say we dump him."

"We can't just 'dump' him. He might have valuable information!" the brown haired mechanic argued.

"Well whatever, I'm out of here, have to go do important things." said the curvaceous woman.

"Like what? Tan?" Kairi asked sarcastically.

"No.

This time, I need to trim my hair."

The Sue walked away. Barlow's Styler than rang, he picked it up- it was none other than chairperson Erma.

_"Barlow! You aren't going to believe this one!"_

"If it's about the forest fire, we have that taken care of." said the base leader.

_"No! It's even worse than that! Remember how I said that Pokemon were behaving strangely in Almia?_

_We just got the same reports from Oblivia!"_


	5. Rise of the Phobia

Chapter forty: Rise of the Phobia

* * *

><p>"Fufu…" a dark colored Pokemon sat in the ruins of what was once a building. His red mane was twisted and spiked along his neck, occasionally shaking with his laughter. The illusionist's blue colored eyes swiveled to the sound of footsteps approaching- his lovely assistant Roserade.<p>

She stood in silence, watching him from atop his throne, a rock that had landed and struck the building twenty five years ago that led to its demise. The white and brown earth was his favorite place to be- for it was a meteor that had led to the destruction of this once proud town.

To him, it was a symbol of what the power of chaos could accomplish.

"Didn't I tell you to go back your lives?" smiled Zoroark to Roserade. The grass type remained unafraid.

"I prefer being in your presence, my leader." she responded, earning a chuckle from the fox Pokemon.

"Whatever pleases you."

"Zoroark… when will we make our next move? It's already been a month since all seven of us last met."

The monster fox instantly appeared before her, Roserade stood still as he crept towards her with a grin.

"Soon, my dear." he said calmly "When the breaking point comes."

"Breaking point?"

"Yes." he said to her, possessively stroking Roserade's white hair, "Fear wells up in the hearts of people and Pokemon worldwide. Soon, very soon, that fear will create tensions among the creatures of this world. And then, Roserade, shall we make our move."

He was instantly back on top of the rock "We shall do something that will throw the entire world into complete and utter disorder.

We will kill Arceus." he said with a wide grin.

* * *

><p>Mewtwo awoke with a jolt. The psycat rubbed his forehead wearily, and then rose from bed. He floated gently to the bathroom, and was a bout to open the door but stopped. The feeling of rage welled up in his mind. His heart sped faster, beating consistently with the cloak in his mind ticking down.<p>

It was him. That man. Absolix.

But it wasn't.

Mewtwo opened the door and beheld what was not Absolix- the sleeping form of the green haired psychic with white fur. He shut the door a split second later, and forced himself into the bathroom.

This was the third time he had awoken in the night to Absolix's presence, only to find out each and every time it was nothing but Gardevoir. Each and every time, he would open her door expecting to do battle with the light type, but seeing on the serene psychic type instead.

And somehow, she infuriated Mewtwo. Something was different about her. Something that made the purple psycat want to kill her. He often imagine strangling Gardevoir with no reason, it was too frequent an occurrence to be ignored.

His insanity was growing. He knew that he had no reason whatsoever to hurt Gardevoir. He knew this, and yet he still wanted so badly to inflict pain upon her. Hence why he needed to avoid Gardevoir at all costs.

Mewtwo forced himself to wash his face. The cold water seemed to bring his senses back- the beating of his heart ceased, and his mind was calmed just a little bit.

"Absolix…" he muttered, the name sending shivers down his spine. A class Five with more power than anyone could believe. Arceus even predicted that the fallen angel could take on the entire Legendary Council.

And win.

"Absolix…!" Mewtwo repeated. A crack in the mirror that he formed with his psychic powers brought him back to reality. Reality. A funny word, considering his status as nothing but a cheap knockoff of mew.

_"I could make you real."_

Mewtwo quietly went back to bed.

* * *

><p>Cresselia gazed upon their group. All were present but Mewtwo and Darkrai. Mewtwo had been avoiding them as of late, and her brother was taken away by Victini last chapter. No one knew what happened to him after that.<p>

"Regardless, I think Darkrai will be fine." she assured Calestia, "So… let's move onto business shall we?"

Cresselia eyed Barlow and Luana. The great dark skinned man cleared his throat and spoke.

"Yesterday, as you are all well aware… Erma received a disturbing report from Rand, the ranger leader in Oblivia. He reported something unexpected… that the same things we've been seeing in Almia, Pokemon going out of control and attacking people for no reason."

Malispite and Mercifond looked at each other. First it was one region, now another. What's next, the return of Team Jacob?

"And also we've just received word that Team Jacob has escaped from prison."

A pause.

"Arceus said she'll take care of that last one, so let's concern ourselves with the problem of Oblivia. I suggest we-"

"Wait, it's my job to suggest things since I'm the leader!" Cresselia interrupted the ranger leader. She immediately took center stage by knocking Barlow off it "Listen up Calestia, here's the plan!"

"Wait, why are you the leader?" the brown bat pointed at Cresselia, "I think that I should be the leader!"

"No way, Gardevoir should lead!" Gallade piped up. The rangers of Vientown stared at the squabbling Calestia as they decided who should be leader.

"WAIT!" yelled the purple bat, grabbing everyone's attention "Instead of arguing, we should hold a democratic vote!"

"A what?" Malispite narrowed his eyes.

"But how?" questioned Deoxys.

"We'll hold a popularity contest on Cataclyptic's profile to see who gets to be the leader." Gliscor said. This seemed to please everyone, so that's what they decided to do. A few hours later, everyone was in a business suits and ties for some reason. The rangers of Vientown looked at their watches wearily as Gliscor announced the results.

"Darkrai won."

"What!" Cresselia gaped, unable to believe she had lost to her younger brother "Okay but… Darkrai isn't here right now so his vote is invalid!"

The purple bat moved onto the next one: "Second place was Gardevoir."

"R-Really?" the green haired psychic said, surprised "I'm that popular with the viewers?"

"Last place was Malispite."

"WHAT!"

"Hooray, Gardevoir's the leader!" Gallade pumped his fist in the air. It seemed as though democracy had fairly decided Gardevoir should lead Calestia to victory. As such, Gardevoir gave her first order of command:

**"I RELINQUISH MY LEADERSHIP ABILITIES TO CRESSELIA." **she said. This earned gapes from many, including Gardevoir herself. Everyone stared at the yellow and blue swan, who grinned widely.

"Did the narrator just use his powers to alter Gardevoir's speech!" the alien with a white moustache blared.

"But… But I thought the narrator hated Cresselia!" the fighting psychic pointed out, clearly confused by this development.

"We had a deal." Cresselia smirked, "I am without a doubt the smelliest, stupidest and most egotistical swan in the entire world and Japan. Also Malispite and Mercifond are awesome."

**TOTALLY WORTH IT**

"And now as my first act of leader, I shall dictate the plan we are to follow!" at this point, they were all tired of the prolonged sequence of deciding who would be leader, so they silently accepted Cresselia's reign over them.

"Now that Oblivia is being attacked, we have only one logical path." began the lunar Pokemon, "We vowed to help the Ranger Union and we shall accomplish this. Therefore, as of right now, we shall split up Calestia into two equal parts for the time being.

The teams are as follows: Team one shall be myself, Darkrai, Deoxys and Gliscor. Team two is Malispite, Mercifond, Gardevoir, Gallade and Kairi. Team one will remain here and solve Almia's problems while team two goes to Oblivia.

I appoint Mercifond as second in command since she is the Chosen One. She shall be leader in Oblivia. In addition, we shall remain in constant contact with each other using the human's sophisticated techno- telepathy things."

"…you mean phones?" Luana tried

"Yes, those. Mercifond and I will exchange information at least three times per day. The information carried over shall aid us in the mission. Finally, when one team is done with their mission, they will head over to the other region to help the last team.

Any questions?"

Everyone stared. Cresselia really was a brilliant strategist, she had intuitively paired them off based on ability and complementary traits. Not only this, but in the process of a few seconds she had come up with an efficient system for them to work off on.

"If team two is the first one done, can I rub it in Darkrai's face?" Malispite asked.

"Yes."

"ALRIGHT TEAM TWO LET'S GET IT IN GEAR!" the brown bat was pumped up at the thought of beating his rival. Barlow called over Murph and his boat, and replied that they would be at the pier in a couple hours to take team two over to Oblivia.

But blocking their path was a shadow, who stood in their way.

"YOU!"

"YOU!"

(INSERT MALISPITE AND DARKRAI PUNCHING EACH OTHER IN THE FACE UNTIL BLOODY GORE HERE)

"Darkrai, you're back!" said his ground and flying typed friend happily, along with Gardevoir and Deoxys.

"Where have you been?" Gardevoir asked, since they had not seen Darkrai for an entire day. A shadow loomed over Darkrai's face, he paused before speaking. He had indeed been kidnapped by Victini, and he had been enlightened to a few things.

"Well… I'm going to get trained by Victini. So in other words… I'm leaving for a little while."

* * *

><p><em>FLASHBACK- ONE DAY AGO<em>

_A splash of water woke him up._

_"WHERE AM I? WHO ARE YOU? DOES LOPUNNY LOVE ME YET?"_

_"Calm down." said the red colored rabbit, the usual smile on his face "I easily beat you unconscious and then took you here." 'here' being a cave like area with glowing crystals and grass covering the floor._

_"Oh yeah." Darkrai remembered, "HEY WAIT! I WON'T LET YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS!"_

_"Zen Headbutt." said Victini, who then proceeded to ram him in the stomach with a full fledged tackle of psychic energy. Even though the attack wasn't effective against Darkrai's type, it still hurt a lot._

_"Now then, would you please pay attention?" asked the fire type. Darkrai moaned, which Victini took as a 'yes' "Arceus sent me here because she said I could train you. However, whether I train you or not is up to me."_

_"And just why… should I get advice from you…!" the prince of darkness gritted his teeth._

_"Well, I'll have you know I'm almost a class Four Legendary." replied the fire type calmly, "My power level is 191,300 in fact."_

_"So…!"_

_"I also managed to beat you without even trying."_

_"I'm not trying my hardest either!" Darkrai retorted, "You keep using surprise cheap shots!"_

_"And you think the enemy will be nice and let you have a nice rest before fighting?"_

_Darkrai paused at this. Sensing this new mood, the red rabbit sighed "Complain all you want Darkrai, but in a battle your opponent won't be nice. I would have expected you to know at least that much already."_

_"Well… okay fine. But I still had no idea you were my enemy, so how was I supposed to know to fight you?" he actually came up with a reasonable argument this time._

_"Well, that is a good point." said Victini, "But even still, you're reflexes should be good enough to handle surprise attacks regardless."_

_"But-!"_

_"Absolix, for instance," the red rabbit got Darkrai's attention "can move at almost the speed of light. If you fought him instead of me right now, you'd be dead before you have time to blink._

_I ask you, Darkrai, do you sincerely want to be stronger?"_

_The prince of darkness stood up. He cracked his neck once, "Of course."_

_"Mn. Now here's another question: why?"_

_"Why?" Darkrai repeated, grinning "So that I can take over my mom's job when I'm older, and then I can boss everyone around!"_

_"Mn. Now let's hear the real reason." Victini's smiling expression did not falter. Darkrai narrowed his eyes, and the red rabbit clarified "I'm sure that's not the real reason you want to be strong."_

_Darkrai's blue eyes looked downwards, as if recalling something. The red rabbit merely watched, his tan hands behind his back. Finally, the prince of darkness sighed_

_"Well… I also fight because…"_

_"Because?" Victini pressured him to continue._

_"…because I have friends I need to protect." Darkrai said, "Especially… Gardevoir."_

_Victini said nothing, but a glint in his eyes appeared "Gardevoir is… well, she's being targeting by Absolix for some reason." continued Darkrai, "I think he plans on doing something horrible to her. And I've decided I won't let that happen."_

_"Oh really?" said the fire type, "And just what can you do, Darkrai? You may have not realized it yet, but you're trying to win against a being so powerful even Arceus can't defeat him. Absolix is without a doubt the most powerful Pokemon on the planet, and you say you can protect your friend from something like that?"_

_"Watch it." Darkrai said dangerously, "I managed to do it once. Granted I almost killed myself in the process, but one time I was able to save her._

_I don't freaking care if Absolix is the messiah, or if he has a power level over two billion. I will save her, and I will protect everyone else from Absolix, even if I have to kill myself to do it."_

_Victini smiled._

_"You're power level increased a little bit just now." he commented, which ensured the sincerity of Darkrai's words "Hm. So you want to take on a god in physical form eh?_

_Interesting. Alright then, I'll train you."_

_Darkrai looked at his new mentor, who gave him a victory sign in commemoration "I'll teach you what it really means to be a Legendary. You up for that?"_

_"Bring it on." grinned the pitch black Pokemon._

* * *

><p><em>END FLASHBACK<em>

"Victini says the training requires me to be far away from any kind of creature." explained the pitch black Pokemon, "So… yeah. I won't be back for a while."

"You… won't…?" the green haired psychic said, sadness in her voice.

"YAYZ!" said Malispite and Gallade, the two hugging each other while doing the can-can and wearing party hats. "NO DARKRAI FOR AWHILES!"

"OH SHUT UP!" Darkrai blared back, "WHEN I'M DONE I'LL BE SO STRONG I'LL BEAT BOTH OF YOU WITH MY PINKY FINGER!"

"Darkrai, you don't have a pinky finger." pointed out the red and blue alien. Darkrai smirked.

"Exactly." he said, "That's how strong I'll be."

"Wait then that means we have to reconfigure our numbers!" Cresselia interrupted everyone, "If Darkrai's gone then team one is unbalanced!"

"Maybe not."

A new voice caught their attention. It was none other than Mitsurashi Zero, the most feared human in the universe. He spoke through one of his Stylers "I'll join team one."

Naturally, most of them were shocked that the villain from the second movie would actually want to join up with them. Zero explained that he was extremely bored, and also if he joined them he might get a decent challenge.

"At least I hope so."

"Isn't Kairi looking for you?" Gardevoir asked.

"Yeah." Zero said calmly, "She is."

A bead of sweat formed on each member of Calestia. "So what? Can I join? I hate boredom…"

"Uh…" but before the lunar swan could reply, out from the Vien Forest stomped an angry brown haired female human. She walked up next to Zero and screamed in his ear.

"ZERO YOU CAPTURED ALL THE VIEN POKEMON AND PUT THEM UNDER MIND CONTROL DIDN'T YOU?"

A pause.

"I was bored." said the world's most feared human. Suddenly Calestia had another good reason to keep Zero- because who knows what would happen the next time he gets bored. Deciding that would be the best option, Cresselia told Kairi her two team plan. When she was done, Kairi insisted that she be put on the same team as Zero.

"Why?"

"Because that way I can keep an eye on him." Kairi looked at her blonde haired enemy angrily.

"Because that way Kairi can grow closer to her love!" said Ruby, who came out of nowhere. Kairi paused.

"NOT TRUE!" she shouted, a red blush on her face, "Uh, Zero, did you hear any of that!"

"Hear any of what?" asked the blonde haired Ranger, who wasn't even paying attention. Kairi mumbled a 'never mind' and the issue was resolved. Eventually, after learning that Kairi had been specifically requested to go to Oblivia, Cresselia decided that Zero should be on team two after all, much to his dismay.

"Well whatever… I guess we have Mewtwo and Celebi here in Almia…" Cresselia muttered. The teams had finally been decided- In five hours the ship would arrive to take the second team to Oblivia. All that was left to do was wait, so Calestia took five.

"Man… I'm teamed up with Kairi…" complained the blonde haired Ranger.

"I can hear you!" said the brown haired ranger, who happened to be standing right next to him.

"I know." said Zero lazily. Kairi fumed, "You don't care about me at all do you!"

"Well, you're really annoying." said Zero, thinking his answer would justify his claims. Unfortunately it only made Kairi even angrier at him.

"You know, you're impossible…" she huffed, crossing her arms and leaning against the building.

"So then give up on me. I'm clearly evil, so why bother trying to turn me back to your side?" Zero raised an eyebrow, posing a legitimate question for his former friend. Kairi merely looked away.

"You aren't entirely evil…"

"Hmph." said Zero, eyes gazing into the depths of the sky, "Maybe not. But you still don't know a thing about me…"

* * *

><p>It was all destroyed. Everything. Every speck of plant life, every single home to Pokemon, it was all reduced to blackened ash that covered the ground.<p>

The Pokemon in the forest struggled to find new homes, some fought over food, others simply sat down and cursed their circumstances, not knowing what their next move would be after such a disaster.

To call the Vien Forest Fire mission a success was the biggest lie the humans had come up with yet. If those humans saw what Celebi was now seeing, if they could even attempt to understand the damage they've done to these poor Pokemon…

But no. Despite many of the Pokemon now homeless, despite every tree that was burnt to crisp, every log that that fallen and crushed someone's leg or tail, despite the tears filled in the eyes of those who realized their powerlessness…

"Humans…" Celebi muttered bitterly, "Humans…"

She was interrupted by a powerful presence, the form of Mewtwo. The purple colored psychic stood a short distance away from the grass fairy.

"Can you heal it?" Mewtwo asked. Celebi shot him a cold look.

"In a few days, maybe." the class Three replied, "Those humans… that stupid human who caused this…!"

"Celebi, I know that you're still bitter about what happened to Myuu…" the psycat said nervously, "But do remember that not all humans are as bad as Giovanni. In fact, it was a human who put out the forest fire."

"Which would have never started if there were no humans around." said Celebi logically, "…this is why we Pokemon remain separate from humans. No matter what their intentions are, they only bring us pain."

"Celebi…"

"The world is in its greatest ecological crisis yet you know?" the guardian of nature continued, "Pollutants are everywhere, trees are being cut down, poisons are infiltrating water supplies… and the humans just don't stop. Most of them don't even care, because wild Pokemon are only 'animals'…"

Mewtwo had no right to object. The humans really were messing up their world right now. And being the guardian of nature, it was only fair that she be angry. Regardless of the psycat's optimism, the fact was many people did not care too much about wild Pokemon. To them, they were just creatures without emotions, or just too concerned with their businesses to care about others.

It really was a sad state of affairs.

"I'll start working…" muttered the grass fairy, beginning to try and fix the mess. Mewtwo watched her, and wished he could help. But even if he had the power, it wouldn't be right.

He himself was not natural.

* * *

><p>"Are we there yet?"<p>

"For the billionth time NO."

"Are we there now?"

"NO."

"Actually yeah, we are."

"…!"

"Took long enough. The dust was making my coat dirty. I'll need a clean bath once we reach… where are we going again?"

"To the Vientown ranger base of course. I need to check in with Arceus."

"To see if it's safe to go back…?"

"Yes. It's strange really- Dialga and Rayquaza said that they've captured those two idiots… but that was three whole weeks ago. It only took them two days to get to Unova and back."

"Hm. I don't like it…"

"Neither do I."

"Hence why we need fast communication with the Hall. Those humans should provide a means with their magical telepathy devices."

"How do humans do that anyway without psychic powers?"

"Who knows. Humans are just weird like that. Instead of doing the smart thing and developing psychic powers, they instead invent a complicated device that nobody understands…"

"Enough babbling! Let's go back to the princess; tell her that we're nearly there."

* * *

><p>"Gallade, I need to speak with you."<p>

It was four hours and thirty minutes until the boat left. Gallade had been doing his usual flirting with Gardevoir, but was interrupted by the presence of Darkrai, who apparently needed to talk to him.

"About what?" asked Gallade, suspicious. The prince of darkness beckoned him to follow. Gallade told his love that he'd be back, and walked behind Darkrai until they had reached an area out of earshot.

"Well?" Gallade said impatiently. Darkrai looked at him seriously, a look that the fighting psychic had never been directed at him before.

"Gallade, I've decided on something." he replied, "And it's really important that you hear this, since you're Gardevoir future mate."

Gallade paused, listening to his rival.

"I need you to protect Gardevoir while I'm gone." said Darkrai.

"…why are you telling me this?" the green swordsman asked. Darkrai had always asserted himself as Gardevoir's protector, so this was new to Gallade.

"Look Gallade… I've been thinking a lot. And I've realized something: I can't protect Gardevoir any longer."

Gallade narrowed his eyes, a look of confusion drawn upon him. "I know that Gardevoir's strong and she can take care of herself. But there's one problem that no one, not even she can take care of.

That thing is the what she taught me: problems that develop in the mind. Gardevoir can sometimes… be negative about herself. And you know that she still is depressed about her parents deaths. She stresses about her sister's every day, even now. The point is this," Darkrai sighed, "I need you to be there for her when she needs it. I need you to comfort her when she's down, because I can't do it."

The fighting psychic stared long and hard at Darkrai. He had basically admitted that he was no good at protecting his childhood friend, and that he wanted her to be with Gallade. The green swordsman paused at this, staring into Darkrai's sky blue eyes, who looked serious, but sad at the same time.

"…Darkrai." Gallade stopped leaning against a tree, "Why can't you do it?"

The prince of darkness lowered his head "Look at me Gallade. My nightmare powers get stronger every single day. I see Gardevoir crying, and you know what I can't do? I can't hold her and tell her that everything will be alright. I'd just give her more nightmares to worry about…

You can."

Gallade paused again. He had always known Darkrai to be the biggest most sarcastic jerk he had ever laid eyes on. But now he was actually showing compassion for his love? It was almost admirable…

"Alright." said Gallade, "I'll do it."

"…Thanks." and with that, the prince of darkness vanished into his own shadow, then began tracing his way back to Victini. He had training to do.

Gallade stood there for a full minute. It had dawned onto him that he truly did care about Gardevoir, so much that he let someone else do it for him. It was at this moment that Gallade realized he pities the dark type. How awful must it be, knowing that you can't even touch someone without infecting them with bad dreams?

It was at this moment that the green swordsman realized just how hard Darkrai had it.

"Gallade?" it was Gardevoir, who snuck up on him "Where's… Darkrai?"

"…he had to go train." said the fighting psychic.

"What were you guys talking about?" she asked.

"…" Gallade looked at Gardevoir's concerned face, finally replying "It was a promise between men."

* * *

><p>In Darkrai's mind, Asmodeus of course saw the whole thing. He may not be able to communicate with his host half the time, but he could always see what Darkrai could. Even his thoughts were known to the king of nightmares, thoughts that were currently filled with depressing thoughts on how no matter what he did, he would fail to protect his best friend.<p>

"Don't blame yourself kid." Asmodeus said silently, knowing his host couldn't hear him, "We are beings of darkness, that's it."

A shadow loomed over his face as he recalled a distant memory "We cannot venture into the light.

It's just not in our nature."

* * *

><p>She peered behind a corner.<p>

Nothing.

The female psycat sighed. It was clear. She had once again eluded the bar of soap. Her pink fur was covered in bruises, her otherwise feminine figure looking scraggly and mangled after her most recent tussle with the animated cleaning utensil.

It was beginning to annoy her that not only was she weaker than Mewtwo, but also a bar of soap. Then again, she reminded herself that this was no ordinary bar of soap. It was a demented bar of soap. Or something, she really didn't know just why it was able to move and use attacks on her.

"Well whatever it is… its gone…" huffed Mewthree, clutching her chest out of breath.

"What's gone?"

Absolix was suddenly behind her, standing as if he had been there all along. Mewthree jumped at his almost creepy smile, her heart pounding even faster than normal "And before you ask, I'm back."

She quickly remembered the events of last night- then and there she had been introduced to Absolix's other personalities, learning the truth of the class Five. In fact, the person standing before her apparently was not even the real Absolix, just one with more emotions than the others.

"Don't tell me you still haven't defeated the bar of soap?" chuckled the yellow tattooed being. This earned a primal growl from Mewthree, who really did not want to deal with her boss right now.

"My dear, I've given you ample time." sighed the white being, "If you can't even defeat our weakest member then you'll never catch up to Mewtwo."

"It's not my fault!" Mewthree almost screamed, "That thing's a monster! How am I supposed to defeat it when I'm clearly weaker than it!"

"Weaker?"

"It's EP is 51,300." muttered the psycat, "Mine is only seventeen thousand…"

"Hmph. You don't get it at all do you?" said Absolix. Deciding to actually be helpful, he beckoned Mewthree to follow him. Hesitantly, the psycat did.

"Mewthree, are battles determined solely by ones supply of Energy Potential?" he asked her.

"Yes." she replied bluntly. The higher EP always won, it was a given law of nature. This apparently was not the answer her enigmatic boss wanted, because he sighed again in response.

"Really? You can't think of a single instance where a battle has been won by the one with lower energy?"

Mewthree was about to reply 'no', but paused when she remembered the fight with Schrocat. Schrocat's power was many times higher than their own, and yet he had also been subdued by she working together with Cresselia and Gardevoir. But moreover… was really got her attention was Darkrai. He had somehow beaten the little paradox all by himself, even after Schrocat had powered up.

"One instance…" she replied carefully, "But Darkrai's different somehow…"

"Is he?" Absolix repeated, "And just what do you think makes him so different from you?"

Mewthree furrowed her brow. It was a legitimate question that she had never pondered until just now. She thought carefully about her and Darkrai, comparing herself mentally with the esteemed prince of darkness who seemed to defy all expectation.

"He…" Mewthree tried to put it in words, "When I saw him fight… it was like he had no fear of what was going to happen to himself. He acted like he simply had to win no matter what the cost… no fear at all…"

"Bingo." Absolix paused, turning around to face her "Mewthree, strength comes in many different forms. Darkrai is strong because he has to. Why are you strong, Mewthree? To what end do you strive to gain power?"

She stared at Absolix, it was a question of why she was trying to challenge the bar of soap "Because you… told me to?"

"No. That would be my reason." said Absolix with the patience of a teacher "What are you fighting for?"

"To defeat Mewtwo." she answered promptly.

"No, that's Giovanni's expectations." he tsked her with a glowing finger. Peering close and gazing into the depths of her mind, he asked again "What are YOU fighting for?"

"I… I do not matter. I am simply a tool used to defeat Mewtwo, and I will accomplish that by any means necessary." the pink furred psychic replied, albeit nervously.

"Oh come now." frowned Absolix, "You don't really think that do you? Mewthree, you have to wake up and realize that you aren't just Giovanni's servant."

"But I am." at this the air around the two became cold. Mewthree looked down, remembering her promise with her mother "You don't understand Absolix… I wasn't born like you were. I was created in a test tube. I… am not a real creature. I am just a weapon."

Absolix stared long and hard at the girl, for once in his life a frown plastered on his face as opposed to his usual grin. He quietly walked over to her, pausing as his gentle hand too her chin.

"Do weapons have emotions?" asked Absolix seriously. A tear fell on his hand, and Mewthree realized she was crying a little. She shoved Absolix's hand away and wiped her tears away, calling them 'residues of liquid created from exhaustion'.

"Mewthree, let me tell you something." Absolix said while her back was turned to him, "You are who you are, but you can be what you want to be. Mewthree, you aren't a weapon unless you truly believe so. No one should have the right to label you as being this or that.

I do not see a weapon at all in front of me. I see my idiotic pupil crying because she thinks she's worthless just because she grew up in a test tube. If you want to talk about horrible birth stories, just talk to me anytime and I'll give you a run for your money with my own.

…the point is this, Mewthree. Only you can choose who you want to be. I can't do it and neither can Giovanni. You are more than just another mew clone, you are a confidant girl who is slowly blossoming into a capable woman. This is what I believe, and you should too because you underestimate yourself to the highest degree."

A pause filled the area. No one had ever said those words to Mewthree before. Not even Jessica. No one had ever had any confidence in her, but Absolix did…

"And if I really did believe you to be nothing more than an emotionless tool," continued the white being "then why would I bother bringing you here to be my pupil?"

Those words brought a sense of renewed vigor to Mewthree's heart. Silently, her tears stopped altogether. She felt that man watching her, and could almost feel him smiling again.

"I have to leave again. Think about what you want and I'll help you accomplish it."

There was a small sound and Absolix was gone. Mewthree clenched her fist; battered as she was she felt stronger than ever before. With psychic energy filling the air, she turned to face her opponent, who was waiting for the chance for Absolix to be gone. With a determined expression in her sea blue eyes, she charged.

* * *

><p>Two pairs of eyes stared into the blackness of the room. Everything in it had been utterly decimated, so much that now it could hardly be called a training room. It was littered with bodies of Pokemon and humans alike, all deceased. Even with an army of the most powerful team Rocket executives, they stood no chance against him.<p>

Logically.

The door opened, shedding light on the dark purple creature. It was he, Gin Takamura.

"…why did you kill them?" was all he asked.

"Giovanni told me to do so if they were inadequate sparring partners, logically." said the four eyes abomination "And they failed to satisfy me."

The black haired golden eyed man stared at the sight of all the bodies on the floor. It was a scene he was used to, but his eyes still remained full of sorrow for those needlessly killed.

"Whatever. Giovanni wants you to see him immediately." the door was shut, leaving the fourth clone of mew all alone once more.

"Giovanni shall be logically pleased with this latest test." Xeno muttered to himself,

"After all, I have achieved a power level of one hundred and nineteen thousand since my last encounter with Absolix."


	6. Things Look Dim I

Chapter forty two: Things Look Dim (Act one- The Setup)

* * *

><p>The boat was sailing off, with half the members of Calestia on it. This was all well and good, but Gliscor noticed something was… off.<p>

"Hey, what's up with the title?" he asked Malispite. The brown bat looked up, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. In a few moments though, the purple bat realized what was wrong- this was chapter forty two, and last chapter was forty. In other words…

"Wait, so what happened to chapter forty one?" Gliscor was confused. He turned to the rest of the team to see faces in fear. Gallade and Mercifond were sweating like crazy, while Malispite was in a fetal position sucking his thumb. Kairi was stammering something about how it wasn't her fault.

"That's right… you… weren't in that chapter were you?" Mercifond realized.

"Hm?"

"No he was, but he was knocked out in the beginning by the-"

"Don't even say it! I don't want to be reminded about what happened!" the white bat screamed at Gallade desperately. The purple bat's yellow eyes were wide with confusion.

"What… happened?" he asked, genuinely afraid.

"We all took a solemn oath to never tell what occurred in that chapter." said Kairi through her Styler, "ESPECIALLY Gallade…"

Gliscor glanced at said green haired Pokemon, and he was muttering to himself, turned away from the rest of them.

"It was really that bad?"

"Believe me when I say you were the lucky one." said Mercifond, in accordance with Gliscor's absence due to being unconscious "It took forever to get the-"

"Don't even say it! I don't want to be reminded about what happened to Malispite!" Gallade cried, which caused the brown bat to cry harder, banging his fists against the floor of the ship.

Gliscor was stunned beyond anything he had ever experienced.

"Luckily dA deleted it the second it was published…" Mercifond gave the silver lining to the horrible occurrences last chapter, "If anyone knew what we did… oh Arceus… I don't even want to think about it…"

"Okay… um…" Gliscor decided not to bring up chapter forty one ever again "So uh, where's Ruby at?"

"Oh sh*t I forgot about her…" Gallade became worried, "Is she still recovering?"

"Yeah, I put her to bed immediately after… you know. She'll be out for a few days due to the trauma." the female ranger told them.

From what Gliscor could tell, he probably was the lucky one. However, his ranger friend noticed that something really was off, the members of their crew. Widening her eyes, she realized what it was.

"Oh no!" Kairi shouted, "In all the confusion of last chapter, I forgot to bring-"

* * *

><p><strong>ZERO<strong>

"Hah… well at least there's one good thing that happened… I escaped Kairi…" said the out of breath blonde haired dark ranger. He was currently wearing a pink frilled tutu, and across his left cheek was a pentagram. Zero was currently behind the Vientown ranger building, having bided his time to wait out most of the forty-first chapter. It mostly worked.

"I have to get changed… 'she' might have put a tracking device in it or something…" said the ranger, ditching and subsequently burning the tutu. He peeked to make sure it was safe, and it was, so Zero walked calmly back into the ranger base. There he washed off the star with some soap and water, then went back out and burned the teddy bear too, just in case.

"So it looks like I've just joined team one." Zero smiled to himself, "Now where could they be…?"

* * *

><p><strong>PUELTOWN<strong>

"Is it safe!" asked Deoxys, panicking. The last thing she heard was a siren, followed by an explosion, and then she, Cresselia and Gardevoir had gone into hiding underground. It had come so fast that Cresselia could only garb whatever members they could get, hence why they accidentally swapped Gardevoir for Gliscor.

"Clear!" said their ever fearless swan leader, who went back down to tell them the good news "The others are fine! They're on their way to Oblivia right now!"

That was a relief. From the underground emerged Gardevoir, who shook some dust off, and Deoxys, who placed her white moustache back on for disguise. They were met with the warmth of the sun, a sign that the disastrous times had finally ended.

"Don't let this setback hinder you in any way." warned the pink and yellow swan, "We have a mission to do: find out why Pokemon are behaving oddly and stop it!"

"I just thought of something," said the alien "if Pokemon are behaving strangely, isn't it a bad idea to send Pokemon to correct the problem?"

"Oh pish Deoxys!" Cresselia glanced sideways, facing her "Now look, you two search the road above, and I'll look below. Report anything even remotely suspicious."

Pueltown was the biggest city in Almia. Moderate sized skyscrapers loomed upon the bustling denizens below. Apartments here, houses there, with surprisingly little movement for such an enormous area. It was divided into two primary sectors: the upper and lower sector, with stairs dividing the two. Attractions in this town included its very own port, a small beach to the south, and a bridge linking to Altru park.

Cresselia zoomed ahead of them, flaying all over the place questioning everything suspicious, while the alien and the green haired girl walked upwards to the upper half of the city, taking their time.

"That was… scary." said the gardevoir, recounting the events that happened last chapter.

"It's all over now." Deoxys reassured her, "And IT will never come back… ever."

"So, anything suspicious…" mumbled Gardevoir to herself, looking around. She saw a boy playing fetch with a Growlithe, turning sideways there was a pleasant looking water fountain. Some wingull cried in the skies above, but overall nothing was out of the ordinary.

"I don't see anything, do you?" the white and green being asked her friend.

"No. Well… as far as I can tell with my electricity vision and all." Deoxys said, once again reminding the green haired girl that Ribonians could only see in electric pulses "There's a lots of them in this area… it's like Destiny City again."

"Well this is another city. People use their gadgets more in cities."

"Hm…" said Deoxys, her strange vision picking up almost too much electromagnetic pulses from all the machines. If anything suspicious came up, this time Deoxys probably wouldn't be much help.

"Remember everyone! Blake Hall is going to speak in Altru Park in ten minutes!" the two women looked up to see a megaphone announcing something "Repeat: in ten minutes Blake Hall, the CEO of Altru is going to speak to the public about his new energy program!"

Gardevoir and Deoxys looked at each other. They recalled Kairi saying that Altru inc. was apparently a big deal in Almia. Around them there was excited murmuring of Hall's endeavors, further signifying that this event was important.

"Let's check this out, Gardevoir." said the alien, still in disguise, "We may be able to learn a thing or two from this speech."

"Makes sense, let's go."

* * *

><p>"YOU LOOK SUSPICIOUS!" blared the lunar swan to a defenseless elekid, who was cowering in fear.<p>

"But, but I'm just playing with my friend Murkrow!" he said, pointing to his equally scared black bird friend. Cresselia stared at them both, eyes narrowed in disbelief.

"I have my eyes on both of you." she said in a dark voice. Immediately she went over to a telephone pole, braking at that too. When she was done with that, she walked over to a pair of elderly humans and yelled at them as well.

Gardevoir and Deoxys were walking when they saw this happen. Looking at each other, the green haired girl said "I think she's getting too into the mission…"

"AND YOU! YOU'RE THE MOST SUPICIOUS THING HERE!" she screamed at a blade of grass she picked up using psychic powers. "What do you know! Speak!"

The grass blade, having no esophagus, could not speak.

"Fine, play the silent treatment." she tossed it away, leaning against a building and sighing aloud.

"Oh what am I to do…? There's too many suspicious things around here, I can't tell which one's related to our case or not!" she sighed to herself. Cresselia decided to take a small break before resuming her investigation.

All and all, Pueltown was a pretty nice place, if not for the suspicious atmosphere it had. She saw some kids and their Pokemon playing mock battle, and watched them for a bit. The elekid from before was up against a Growlithe. The battle was short, and very weak compared to Cresselia's superb power, but nonetheless both parties were tired after play time was over.

"Hey, Archie!" one of the boys said to the other, "Who's your favorite Legendary?"

There were murmurs of Rayquaza and Heatran coming from the Pokemon but the other boy answered

"Lugia!"

Cresselia breathed faintly.

"Oh yeah, Lugia's cool." agreed the first one, "But Rayquaza's better! He was able to stop an entire train AND get everyone to safety!"

"Well Lugia once stopped an hurricane." argued the other one, "He saved everyone in Oblivia from the biggest storm in history! How is that not awesome!

Plus, I heard that he defeated Cipher all by himself!"

"Cipher?" questioned the first human child. The second explained, "Cipher was one of the most secret bad organizations, they tried turning Pokemon into shadow Pokemon!" he said, petting his grow lithe and reassuring it that he would never let that happen to him "Anyway, Lugia came in, saved Ho-Oh, and crushed the island by blasting it with his Aeroblast attack."

"Well Rayquaza's still better."

"Yeah!" said the elekid. But by this time Cresselia had stopped listening to them. She had become very quiet.

* * *

><p><em>"Lugia?"<em>

_"Yes, Cresselia?" the great white bird replied._

_"…um…" she was nervous around him, being that he was so cool and she was just a child. He chuckled at her nervousy._

_"Do you have a question?"_

_"How… how can I be like you?" she said quietly._

_"You want to be a Legendary?" repeated the guardian of the sea. The childlike Cresselia lowered and raised her head once. A laugh from Lugia, and then he stood up to his full height._

_"Well, it isn't easy to become a Legendary." he said seriously, "Are you sure you're up to the task?"_

_"Yes! Yes I am!" she cried eagerly._

_"Ha! Alright then, I'll tell you what you need to do." smiled the bird "First of all, you must always be diligent. You never know when bad guys will attack you."_

_"G-Got it!"_

_"Secondly, you'll have to be strong. We Legendaries have to be strong so that we can protect what's important to us. For instance, I have to be strong so that I can protect my brother Ho-Oh. And you."_

_Cresselia blushed, turning away. Lugia chuckled lightly, she really was a cute one._

_"But the third thing is the most important." he said, "Are you ready for the most important part of becoming a Legendary?"_

_Cresselia looked upon him in awe, eagerly awaiting the third requirement. However, just then Latias burst into the room, whispering something in Lugia's ear the great bird narrowed his eyes, and the red dragon flew away to deliver more news._

_"I'm sorry Cresselia but I have to leave now." sighed Lugia, "More criminals acting up. I'll tell you about the thirds thing when I get back okay?"_

_Before Cresselia could speak, his wings rose, then he lifted himself into the sky with his mighty wings, flying away towards his new destination, where the criminals were acting up._

_Citidark Island._

* * *

><p>Cresselia gazed into nothingness, the fond memory ending.<p>

It took him ten years to get back to her.

* * *

><p>Deoxys and Gardevoir had arrived at the center of Altru Park. A large crowd had gathered around some sort of stage where the famous musicians the Go Rock Quads were paying. The music was tight and upbeat, the crowd of humans cheered fro more while the two psychic women watched it all from the sidelines.<p>

"Uh-huh, thank ya' very much." said their leader Billy, who played the guitar. His sister Tiffany lightly tapped him on the shoulder.

"Billy, why are you doing an Elvis impersonation?"

"A who impersonation?"

There was no encore however, as the main event had just arrived. Black clad human bodyguards with their houndour by their sides forced everyone to make a path for a short green haired man in a purple suit. He rubbed his hands constantly as he walked up to the Go Rock's, stealing their spotlight and microphone.

"A-hem! Thank you all for coming, and thank you Go Rock Squad for you wonderful music!" said the man kindly, "Now, if you would please step aside…"

He came rather silently, despite his position. He was dressed in an all black pinstripe suit, with black pants and jet colored shoes. He had an air of utmost seriousness about him as he walked through the awestruck crown, his sunglasses shining in the sun and ponytail bobbing up and down ever so slightly. With a crinkle of his short moustache, he spoke.

"Ladies… gentlemen… I am Blake Hall."

The crowd screamed in approval. Back on the sidelines, the two psychic women took note of this man's popularity, seeing as how Kairi was correct. He cleared his throat and spoke again.

"By the way I am totally not the bad guy of this arc." Blake said quickly.

"WE BELIEVE YOU BLAKE HALL!" shouted his loyal fans.

"Now then, I decided to speak in public to tell you about the completion of Altru Tower!" said the black clad man, "It shall be completed in exactly two weeks from today! And when this happens… on that day, which also happens to be Altru's birthday… I shall unveil a new type of energy!

This energy is the ultimate clean energy! It wastes nothing, pollutes nothing and can power cities with just a small amount of it! This is the Dream Energy™ that you have all been waiting for!"

"Yeah! Dream Energy™ !"

One man raised his hand, "Do Pokemon have anything to do with it?"

"What!" Blake Hall was aghast, "Are you suggesting that this whole thing is an evil scheme to turn Altru Tower into a giant Gigaremo™ in order to obtain control over every Pokemon in Almia and then proceed to rule the country with it!"

Man: "Uh… I didn't…"

Blake: "How dare you suggest that sort of thing! We of Altru are a clean business!"

Man: "I'm sorry…?"

Gardevoir turned to her alien friend "Well, it looks like the humans are finally going to stop relying of fossil fuels. That ought to be good for Pokemon habitats everywhere."

"Yeah…" Deoxys said back, "But I wonder what this new Dream Energy™ is?"

The two women shrugged, figuring it was beyond them to know what it was. For now, they would report back to Cresselia.

Just then, the bridge connecting Altru Park to Pueltown rose up. It rose and rose, until it folded, and then stopped when it was at a ninety degree angle. Confusion was abound as the people began wondering why the bridge was up.

"*Ahem* Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your time." Blake Hall noticed the bridge, and appeared prompted to get back in his uncompleted building. The townspeople were still confused though, as some of them had come from Pueltown and needed to get back.

"Hey… what's that!" a person pointed. Across the water, over in Pueltown was a mysterious looking purple fog that covered the town suddenly. It wasn't thick, but there was still a feeling of dread associated with it.

"Deoxys." Gardevoir said, looking across, "I think something's wrong with Pueltown. We should go back."

"How?" questioned Deoxys. Gardevoir pointed out that Deoxys, using her Shifter powers, could in fact grow wings, which could be used to take them there.

"Good thinking! I'll try that!" the Ribonian concentrated hard on her back, poles extended from her shoulder blades that soon became longer and thinner, until they had at last resembled something that could be used for flying. Deoxys heaved from such an effort, as people pointed and stared at this new development.

"Let's go!" flapping her six wings, the morphed alien grabbed Gardevoir by the waist and the two flew over to see what was happening in Pueltown.

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE WITH…WAIT… RIBOS?<strong>

"Good job my men! And woman!" said the ever fearless general Guanine. The dark red and blue alien had been drilling The Four Stars with exercises ever since Cytosine came back and told them that Deoxys had planned to spy on Arceus.

When this new reached Guanine he almost immediately came out of his slump and vowed to train harder so that when they next arrived on Earth, they could defeat the Legendary Council without their supreme queen's aid.

"Can't… feel… my… crystal…" Cytosine said on the floor, exhausted. Adenine and Thymine had already been knocked unconscious, they lay next to each other a ways from the yellow colored ribonian.

Guanine however was perfectly fine despite the gruesome training "Oh come on! We need to practice more!"

"You told us to fire a hundred Shadow Balls without even resting…!" moaned Cytosine.

"So? I did one thousand while you did that."

"…how the hell are you not tired…?"

"BECAUSE I BELIEVE!"

"Well I don't." said Cytosine, trying to at least sit upright. Guanine sighed through his mouth slit.

"Cytosine… don't believe in yourself." he said. A confused look was from the yellow colored ribonian, "BELIEVE IN THE ME THAT BELIEVES IN THE YOU THAT BELIEVES IN OUR SUPREME QUEEN WHO BELIEVES SHE HAS A HORRIBLE MEMORY THAT BELIEVES IN YOU!"

"…what…?"

"Oh, general Guanine!"

The two men turned to the entrance, seeing a pink colored female of their species with glasses, Uracil. She ran over to Guanine and told him the news: Deoxys was going to use the incomplete spatial network to send messages about her spy work over to them.

"Get this: Kurades is Arceus' BROTHER."

"Holy crap!" said Guanine, taken aback "The 'Accursed One' is siblings with 'God'! Who would have thought…"

"She also met with Giratina to discuss… the incident." said Uracil, 'the incident' referring to when Arceus killed almost two billion ribonians with a Judgment attack many years ago "She has nothing yet because Arceus is very secretive. However Giratina says she was crying on that day…"

"Hm." Guanine paused, "The mystery deepens. I'm starting to wonder if perhaps Deoxys is right…"

"Yeah…" said the pink alien. A small silence passed between the two "So… how's training?"

"Well I think we have to quit." sighed Guanine, disappointed "Adenine and Thymine are knocked out, and Cytosine says he can't move any more."

"Nope…" to his surprise, Cytosine was standing straight up. Though he was battered all over his body, he acted as though he was fine "I'm ready for whatever you can throw at me…"

"Hm?" Guanine was confused, "But just a second ago you said you didn't think you could do it. You said that firing 100 Shadow Balls was too much."

"You fired a hundred Shadow Balls!" asked Uracil in awe. Cytosine shrugged, as if it weren't a big deal. He bragged that he didn't even break a sweat doing it, and that what he said earlier was a joke. Uracil blushed in his presence, but Guanine was very confused, because he was sure Cytosine was about to collapse.

He looked at Cytosine, then Uracil. Uracil again, then back to Cytosine.

"AH." said Guanine, finally putting two and two together "I understand Cytosine, you were joking!"

"Yes…"

"W-Well I'll leave you be Cytosine." Uracil exited the training room, carefully closing the door behind her. And after the coast was clear, Cytosine collapsed again.

"Urg… thought my legs could hold up longer…"

"Heheh…" said Guanine, circling his second in command, "So, Uracil eh?"

Cytosine shot him a dirty look, but admitted "So I like her…"

The general was pleased, and grabbed him by the shoulder, giving him a quick manly hug, commenting on how he was growing up so fast "Let me give you some advice on how to get women, Cytosine!"

"Please no…"

"First off: women like it when you tell them they look 'keen' or 'groovy'. When dating, always go to a 'hip' place like the disco arena!"

"Guanine, this isn't the seventies anymore…"

"Also don't forget to put grease in your hair!"

"Our species has no hair…"

"Then grow some! Now when you ask a girl out you always need a cool line like 'Hey baby!' or 'What's cooking, good looking?' however if you want to be blunt you can always just say 'Let's mate!'…"

* * *

><p><strong>AND AS CYTOSINE ENDURES THIS TORTURE…<strong>

The supreme queen herself sat in her usual office located at the top of a needle like tower. Her expression was neutral as she read over some papers designated for her. These were documents and such, requests from other countries, and intelligence reports from the few who weren't loyal to her.

"This is boring." said the supreme queen blandly, smacking the papers against her desk. Ruffling her cloak as she stood up, Helix walked over to her cabinet, hoping for something to quickly entertain her. Inside the cabinet lay an assortment of just about everything inside of a drawer, trinkets she had collected over the years.

"Hm, what's this?" the queen was surprised to find a black box with a button on it, sealed in a glass case. Helix lifted the glass case and pondered at the button "What's this thing? Wait a minute…"

* * *

><p><em>FLASHBACK<em>

_"Helix!" said a younger version of Arceus, "Can you do me a favor?"_

_A younger version of the supreme queen looked up at her friend "Sure, what is it?"_

_"I need you to guard this." the future God replied, handing her a button inside a glass case._

_"What is it?"_

_"Well you see, if this button is pressed then-"_

* * *

><p><em>END FLASHBACK<em>

"Uh… oh shoot I can't remember what it did." the supreme queen muttered silently. Looking left and right, she pressed it anyway in hopes that it did something entertaining.

* * *

><p>Three groans were heard from three separate places on Earth, one in Almia, one in Oblivia, and another in Fiore. The sound resonated through an echo, as if three giant locks were being undone.<p>

And coincidentally, three mechanical cries were heard shortly after.

* * *

><p>"…well that did nothing significant." she tossed it aside, rummaging through the trinkets once more.<p>

"Ah, here we go." the queen picked up a small windup music box. Twisting its key for a bit, she let it play its melody "Hmph. This thing is really old, I can even remember Deoxys playing with it when she was…"

There was an abrupt pause in the room as Helix shut the music box and quietly put it back. Without another sound, she looked for something else that didn't bring up the painful memory of her lack of a daughter.

However, suddenly she found her work amusing, as everything in that chest was something she had once shared with her former daughter. Memories of when she was young did not cease to enter her mind. Her proudest accomplishment, all reduced to nothing…

By none other than Arceus's own children.

* * *

><p>Zoroark paused. He lifted one ear up, as if he was listening to something. Roserade said nothing, as this meant he was reading the future. Her leader's mind drifted to nowhere, as he gazed upon things which could not be seen yet. After almost a minute, Disorder Thirteen's commander grinned.<p>

"Well well, how interesting."

"I presume you've read the future again?"

"A little bit." said the dark grey fox "I saw a couple interesting things… three of them in fact. And I believe we can use them to our advantage."

* * *

><p>"I thought you said this was the Vientown ranger base!"<p>

"Uh… I thought it was!"

"Geeze Cobalion, you're sense of direction is so bad."

"SHUT UP! I AM THE LEADER!"

"Bad leader…"

"CARE TO SAY THAT TO MY FACE VIRIZION!"

"Um, if I may interject… where exactly are we?"

"Well princess, we appear to be on a very snowy mountain. So we're either on Mt. Coronet or Mt. Sorbet."

"…so what you're saying is… we could be in one of two different countries…?"

"Yeah. His sense of direction is that bad."

"Be quiet Terrakion! I'm trying to figure out where the Vientown base is!"

"Vientown isn't in either Sinnoh or Oblivia."

"…"

"No matter! Follow me! I shall get us and the princess out of this snowstorm and back to Almia in no time!"

"That way would be Johto."

"…well I MEANT to go this way!"

"At least now you're heading down the mountain… maybe when we reach its base we can figure out where we are…"

* * *

><p>"Well, we have to send Gliscor back somehow." Malispite argued, "I mean, it's bad enough we accidentally swapped him with… you know who…" the brown bat avoided saying the phrase 'Gardevoir' because Gallade hadn't yet realized she was missing.<p>

"…And frankly, I think they need another team member now that Darkrai's training with that Vic- guy."

"True." Gliscor agreed with Malispite. Kairi however, shook her head sideways.

"While I agree with you, how on earth are we supposed to send Gliscor back to team one? We're already halfway to Oblivia."

And then she arrived.

Her golden hair glistened in the rays of a sun that seemed all the brighter shining down upon the woman. Gracefully, daintily and a beautifully she walked by placing one foot in front of the other in a synchronized motion that rivaled the embrace of two swans on a pristine lake.

Mercifond: "Not this again!"

The nose on this fine specimen of utter perfection was cute, complimenting her already illustrious eyes that shifted to random colors every second or so. The jewelry she wore on her left ear sparkled in a holy light, only enhancing this wondrous picture that everyone had of Marriland Tzu.

"No," said Kairi "we do NOT have that kind of picture about her."

"Well you don't because you're just a stuck up b****." argued the ever graceful Tzu, knowing that this was the only truth "Now where's Zero? I want to flirt with him~!"

"Not here." said Gliscor, "Apparently, chapter forty- one happened and there was a mix up."

A gentle and forceful gasp escaped the lips of our dear Tzu. Her heart seemed to shatter in a million pieces when she hear that her one true love was not on the same boat as her. Truly this was a horrific day for all, as even the clouds looked grey which highlighted the mood in Mary Tzu's usually bright colored eyes.

The rest of the cast didn't know what to make of this. The girl went from overconfidently happy to mega depressed in the span of two second due to the lack of Zero Mitsurashi. A cry was heard, and she pointed at Mercifond and Kairi angrily.

"You two are the ones responsible! You for being the Chosen One and you for being jealous of me!"

"How does that make any sense?" pointed out the purple bat. But Kairi was also mad at Mary's ridiculous behavior, and the two began to argue once again raising their voices until they were shouting at each other.

"NO SHOUTING IN THE HALLWAY!" screamed an even louder voice all of a sudden. Coming up onto the deck was a man in brown kakis and a red sweater vest. His hair was blonde colored and in a swirl.

"Mr. Kincaid, we aren't even in a hallway." Kairi pointed out. Despite this logic, the teacher was still steaming.

"Well I don't care!" Kairi explained to her friends that this person was Mr. Kincaid, a teacher of the ranger school in Almia, known well for his dislike of running in the hallways. The reason he had come aboard their ship, the SS Cargo Ship, was because he wanted to help with the ongoing investigation of why Pokemon were behaving strangely.

"Hey wait, don't take away my screen time! I want to focus on me more!" Mary Tzu stamped her foot. This was purposefully ignored by everyone in the vicinity.

"Hey by the way, where's Barlow and the gang?" Kairi asked Kincaid, "They went down a while ago but haven't come back up."

"Oh they're er… tied up at the moment." said Kincaid, "…Ah! Perhaps you would like to help them?" he suggested. However, the rainbow haired Sue shoved Kairi aside and demanded that she be the one to help them instead. Before Kairi could reply, Kincaid was off with Mary.

"Oh whatever… I'm sure it's nothing important…"

"So, Kairi." Gallade decided to get down to business, "You said that Pokemon were behaving strangely, but we never got the full details. What are the specifics?"

"Well, usually they start to get dizzy first of all."

* * *

><p>"We're here…" said Deoxys, dropping Gardevoir on the floor. The green haired girl stumbled a bit.<p>

"Urg… I feel dizzy all of a sudden Deoxys…"

* * *

><p>"Then the dizziness continues, but it stops hurting after a while. At this point, Pokemon appear to have trouble speaking properly."<p>

* * *

><p>"Gardevoir…? You okay?"<p>

"Aghhf… Yah dunof kiesz…"

* * *

><p>"And then, they get this weird spirally halo thing on top of their head, and when that happens they start attacking other people and Pokemon, as well as walking in circles for some reason…."<p>

* * *

><p>"Wow Pueltown is all covered in this purple fog… Gardevoir? Why are you walking in a circle?"<p>

The green haired girl suddenly was compelled to walk in a circle, and strangely enough there was a hypnotic orange spiral above her head. Deoxys called for her several times, but no answer.

"Gardev-" Deoxys paused, as she noticed a whirring sound for the first time.

There was a machine similar to the one Crawford had brought to the ranger base in Vientown. Except this one was red, and functioning perfectly. Four strange humans dressed in black and purple surrounded it, muttering in the distance. Deoxys altered her ears to hear better, immediately suspecting something.

"…the last one!" exclaimed one, "With this, all the Pokemon in Vientown are our slaves!"

"Aha…" said Deoxys, "Gardevoir! I think I found-"

But Gardevoir had disappeared.

* * *

><p>"Huh. That sounds bad." Gallade said "Wait… I just had a thought. If Pokemon are behaving strangely… isn't it a bad idea to send Pokemon to correct the problem?"<p>

"RIGHT YOU ARE!"

Suddenly, from the lower regions of the boat came a dozen purple and black clad men, all grinning and laughing eagerly. Calestia was taken aback by these new events as they were suddenly surrounded, five versus twelve.

"What's going on here!" shouted the brown haired girl.

"What does it look like? This is a takeover of course!" shouted one of them back, "From now on, this boat is OURS, for we are… TEAM DIM SUN!"

"Team Dim Wits?" asked Gliscor.

"TEAM DIM SUN!"

"Team Dims Un?" repeated Malispite.

"DIM SUN!"

"Team Yuuyami?" asked Mercifond.

"THAT LAST ONE WASN'T EVEN CLOSE!" shouted the evil gang, "NO MATTER! TAKE THIS!"

Suddenly, four of them pulled up a hefty looking machine, dropping it on the ground with a clang. Kairi narrowed her eyes, as this was the same machine that Crawford had found when the incidents of misbehaving Pokemon first appeared!

"Activate the Gigaremo!"

The machine began to whir. It was very anticlimactic.

"…so what was that supposed to do?" the ground/flying type asked. And then swirling halo's appeared on Malispite, Mercifond, Gallade and Gliscor. They began to drool and walk around in a group circle.

"Oh no…! So it was you!" Kairi said, worried about her friends.

"That's right little girl! Now we have complete control over your friends and there's nothing you can do about it!"

Kairi whipped out her Styler, as this meant she would have to fight off all four of them… and without Ruby as well. Truly, this was going to be the hardest task she had ever done before.

"Attack that pesky ranger!" yelled one of them.

The four walked in a circle.

Kairi paused, and the group scrambled to the Gigaremo to figure out what was wrong. "You have to manually do it!"

"Which one's the right switch!"

"Is it this one!"

The Gigaremo suddenly began to play the _Caramelldansen _song, and the four mind controlled Calestia members began to dance in sync with it. The Dim Sun members began to panic, pressing buttons and switched randomly now, causing a variety of effects to the Pokemon, but none detrimental to Kairi.

"Well… while their busy…" Kairi muttered. She turned back to the group, now playing a game of mind controlled Twister. She launched her Styler and circled them. Since they were all stuck together, Kairi easily looped around them, and after twenty loops, a bright light shone from them and suddenly they were back to normal, albeit still stuck together.

"What the! Gliscor, why is your tail in my face!"

"Why is Mercifond's arm around my neck!"

"Why isn't Gardevoir in my arms!"

"SHUT UP GALLDE AND HELP US GET UNTANGLED!" screamed the three of them, struggling to break free of themselves.

"Aha! Here it is!" screamed one of them, holding up a manual. "To make them attack you select red switch, blue switch, green, other green, orange and the fifth red!"

They performed the necessary actions and stood before Kairi with great confidence. Now she would be attacked by her friends and beaten into pulp, the worst possible way to be defeated!

"Gliscor you're making it worse!" Malispite yelled.

"Well someone's leg is preventing me from moving!"

"Where's Gardevoir!"

"SHUT UP!"

The Dim Sun gang stared in confusion. They then realized that Kairi cheated by capturing them while they were busy trying to work the Gigaremo.

"Cheating!" Kairi yelled.

"Plan B! Pull up the Miniremo's!" The Dim Sun group then pulled out what appeared to be miniature laptops. Typing some things on them, Kairi was surprised to see an army of voltorb appear from the depths of the ship, all under Dim Sun's control.

"Miniremo's are awesome!" exclaimed one, "They're so easy to use!"

The voltorb all began charging up power, and Kairi prepared herself for a fight.

_'These people keep appearing from down in the ship… are Ruby, Kincaid and Barlow alright?'_

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE WITH ZERO<strong>

"I'm so bored…" said the blonde haired ranger, "Maybe I should capture the Vien Forest again or something…"

Then, he saw that Pueltown was covered in a purple fog.

"Ooh." he smiled, shifting his direction of walking "That looks fun…"

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE WITH ABSOLIX<strong>

"Hello everyone, I'm here to end the chapter!" the white being said happily,

"Will Deoxys save Gardevoir from being mind controlled?

Can Kairi defeat Team Dum Dum's all by herself?

Will Mary Tzu ruin the story with her Tzu-ness?

And will Mewthree ever come out of hiding?"

"I'm staying in here until tomorrow!" screamed the pink furred woman, hiding in a barrel.

"Oh Mewthree you silly girl. Chapter forty one is over."

"I'm scarred for life in case you can't tell!"

"Well it wasn't that back my dear…"

"YOU WARPED OUT OF THERE THE SECOND IT STARTED!"

"Well that's because I'm Absolix." said the golden tattoo's Pokemon, "Tune in next time for all of these answers and more on the next chapter of Legendary Pokemon!"


	7. Things Look Dim II

**Chapter forty three: Things Look Dim (Act two- Execution)**

* * *

><p>"Previously on Legendary PKMN." said Absolix, sitting in his red chair and quietly sipping some tea, "Calestia decided to split up into two groups in order to uncover the mystery why Pokemon were behaving strangely in Almia and Oblivia.<p>

However as soon this occurs, disaster strikes! The ship belonging to the Rangers was suddenly attacked by Team Dumb-Stun, as well as another separate attack in Pueltown! Gardevoir appears to be mind controlled, Cresselia is nowhere to be seen, and worst of all, the Calestia members on the boat have twisted themselves into an unbreakable knot!

Can Deoxys save Pueltown and her friends all by herself? And what about Kairi, who's surrounded by more than a dozen goons? And will Mewthree ever defeat the bar of soap?"

A loud crash was heard beside Absolix. Soon afterwards, Mewthree was thrown sideways and landed on the floor next to him, injured and moaning. The fallen angel sighed.

"Tune in for all of these answers and more in this installment of Legendary PKMN!"

**THANKS ABSOLIX, I'LL TAKE IT FROM HERE**

"No problem." Absolix sipped more of his tea.

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE WITH DEOXYS<strong>

"Cresselia! Gardevoir!" the alien yelled loudly, hoping for a reply. Unfortunately, there was no reply, and her two girlfriends were nowhere to be seen.

"This is bad…" the red and blue Pokemon said to herself, "First a purple mist appears, Gardevoir starts behaving like crazy, and now I can't even find Cresselia!"

Deoxys turned to her next best bet- the four strangely dressed humans that were surrounding a red colored machine. In no time at all, Deoxys flew over to them, demanding to know the situation.

"What is this thing?"

"Not any kind of Pokemon I've ever seen."

The red and blue alien blinked, realizing that she didn't speak human. She tried again, this time using signs of things as language, universal signs. No one got it.

"What does it want?"

"I have no idea."

_'This is getting me nowhere…'Deoxys sighed to herself, still eying the red colored machine._

"Anyway, ignore that thing, let's go over the plan." said a female dressed in purple garb.

_'Plan…?'_

"So, all four Gigaremo's, which mind control Pokemon, have been set up in four different locations." she spoke to the other three, "The area of the four when overlapped encompasses the entire city! Therefore, all Pokemon in Pueltown are officially under our control!"

Deoxys widened her eyes.

"I've already sent some Pokemon to attack the humans, and others to defend the Gigaremo's. Thus, phase one has officially ended! We proceed to phase two: protect the Gigaremo's from harm until the leader gives us further instructions!"

"Question!"

"What now Bob?"

"Well… if all the Pokemon in Pueltown are under our control… how do you explain that?" said the grunt, pointing to a wide eyes Deoxys. The sub commander paused, realizing something was amiss.

"Uh… oh crap…"

"So you're the ones behind all of this!" said Deoxys angrily, "In that case I'm destroying you and your stupid machines!"

"I think it's angry at us! SEND THE VOLTORB!" demanded the sub commander, to which the others responded by summoning some voltorb to the field to battle Deoxys. The three voltorb were obviously mind controlled, as they had the same swirl above their heads that Gardevoir did.

"Hahah! Take that! We have three voltorbs you stupid thing!"

Deoxys stared at the electric typed Pokemon.

* * *

><p><em>FLASHBACK<em>

_"I, thief Weavile, am the greatest criminal in the world!"_

_"Greetings one and all. I, Absolix, am a class Five."_

_"Name's Zero Mitsurashi, most feared human on the planet."_

_"Bwahaha! Bow before Kurades, the man who started the Pokemon world war!"_

* * *

><p><em>END FLASHBACK<em>

Deoxys stared at the voltorb. She looked at the four humans, and sincerely asked "I've been through all of that and you send three voltorb to attack me?"

"Hahah, you stand no chance against our power!" bragged the humans all at once. Deoxys sighed.

**ONE POINT FIVE SECONDS LATER**

All three poke ball shaped Pokemon lay on the ground, fainted. Deoxys crossed her now human like arms, expecting a bigger challenge from the four. Surprisingly, that was it. The four purple clad humans looked astounded that she defeated them in less than two seconds.

And so, the red and blue alien logically proceeded to knock them all out as well, and then destroyed the Gigaremo. Picking the four people up in her arms, she dropped them off at the 'ranger station' that Kairi had shown them earlier. She found a good room, placed all of them in it, and locked it top make sure they couldn't get out.

"There!" she said to herself, "Now… to find Gardevoir and Cresselia."

And fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, Deoxys did just that when she casually gazed out a window and saw a familiar shape.

There, on the second level, was Gardevoir surrounded by two Growlithe, in strategic position to protect a red colored machine.

"There she is…!"

However, peering closer, she saw a figure that she did not expect. And he was heading towards Gardevoir.

"Zero!"

* * *

><p>"Ah, now this is more like it." the world's most feared human said to himself, "A town in danger? Mysterious purple fog? And now… those Pokemon that are friends with Darkrai are being mind controlled?"<p>

Zero took a look at Gardevoir, who responded with a threatening glare. Her glare didn't even faze Zero, rather it only made him grin wider.

"Oh yeah. This is definitely NOT boring."

The green haired Gardevoir had apparently had enough of Zero, and shot a Shadow Ball at him from a range. Zero jumped to the side, propelled by his air shoes, dodging it by a meter. His psychic type Styler was now in the open, a mad grin upon his face as he stared back at Gardevoir and told her to bring it on.

Whether she actually understood the man or not was unclear, but Gardevoir and her two Growlithe ran towards him and attacked without mercy. Zero however was perfectly fine; pulling out his grass type Styler, he used Cotton Guard on himself to reduce the impact of the Fire Spin's from the Growlithe as well as Gardevoir's simply punch.

Using that as a distraction, Zero leapt to the side and looped around all three of them using a group Styler method. The Growlithe were instantly captured.

Gardevoir however, was much stronger than the Growlithe. She ignored the looping entirely and shot a couple Thunder Waves in his direction- Zero had no time to dodge and was hit by one.

Knowing what came next, he brought his psychic Styler towards him and looped around himself, Teleporting before Gardevoir could land s punching induced Psychic.

"Heheh, so you've improved…" Zero laughed. The paralyzing effects wearing off, he switched his grass Styler with the more offensively oriented Dragon Styler, which he immediately used to fire a Dragon Pulse at his white colored opponent. The shockwave of draconic energy connected, driving her back a few meters, to which Zero once again used to loop around her twice before the green haired girl retaliated.

Flying in the air, Zero dodge most of her attacks, fired off another Dragon Pulse, and looped again. This time Gardevoir was showing signs of mind control, as an apparent headache was induced upon her. Seeing this, Zero decided to end it all.

"Alright Gardevoir, ready for this!" he shouted. The blonde haired Ranger swapped his psychic type with his fire type. Forming a star like pattern using the lines of his Stylers, the two combined their attacks and created a pulsating wave of intense heat, akin to a volcanic eruption.

"Lava- Pulse!" the magma seared everywhere and everything it touched. Soon the entire area was covered in intense heat. Zero landed on the ground.

To his surprise, Gardevoir had used a Light Screen attack beforehand, and subsequently, was barely hurt at all. Zero whistled in congratulations.

"Wow. You really have improved. Sadly, that was just a distraction." the two Stylers he had were perfectly poised: an intricate design had been drawn, with Gardevoir in the middle of it.

"Two Styler Method: Warden's Law!" The symbol immediately collapsed inwards to Gardevoir, and a mental shockwave followed, with Gardevoir clutching her head and falling downwards to the ground.

"ZERO!"

"Eh?" the blonde haired dark ranger turned to see Deoxys, who tried to attack him with a Psychic attack, but Zero leapt out of the way.

"How dare you…! You've captured Gardevoir and those innocent Growlithe!" the alien shouted at him.

"I was bored. So what's going on?" he asked casually.

"Why you! You have absolutely no concern for-"

"Deoxys…"

The red and blue Pokemon paused, as she turned her head and saw Gardevoir. She was clutching her head, but sitting "Please stop yelling… you're giving me such a headache…"

"GARDEVOIR!" Deoxys squealed and hugged her friend using her four tentacle arms. The green haired woman moaned some more, but appeared to be fine regardless. At this realization, Deoxys blinked and set her down.

"But wait… you were mind controlled…" she looked back at the two Growlithe, who were facing similar headaches, but had also regained their self awareness. She gazed back at Zero, who also put two and two together, seeing what he did. None of them had the orange spirals above their head.

"When Zero captured you… you snapped out of your controlled state…" mused Deoxys.

"Controlled…? Oh no! That's right, there was a voice telling me to guard this thing and then I tried to…!"

"Hm. Now this is interesting." Zero declared, "So I take it Pokemon are being mind controlled again, right? And me capturing them somehow turns them back to normal, right?"

"Uh…"

"Well, well, well." Zero smirked, "It looks like you owe me an apology, Deoxys."

"Wait… how did you get freed from this?" asked Gardevoir. Deoxys shrugged, replying that she was never affected in the first place for some reason. She had no explanation for it, but Zero did.

"You said you were an alien right?" he examined the red whirring machine, "These things look like they control Pokemon using a special frequency that only they can hear. Maybe your species filters it out somehow."

"Yeah, maybe…" said Deoxys, who was unfamiliar with her anatomy, "Anyway, that doesn't matter now!"

"You're absolutely right." Zero said, "I'm going to capture moar Pokemon!"

And then he left.

"WAIT NO WE CAN USE YOUR HELP TO… Oh screw it. Let him try to capture every Pokemon in Pueltown. At least it'll keep him busy…"

"Where's Cresselia!" Gardevoir suddenly realized that her pink and yellow friend was missing. Deoxys looked at Gardevoir helplessly and told her that ever since she had left them to go exploring on her own, since the purple fog appeared she had been out of sight.

"Okay… and what about Darkrai?" she asked.

"Training, remember?" Deoxys replied. He had taken early morning to train with Victini, they hadn't seen him since. Gardevoir opened her mouth, then looked won, remembering this fact.

"What, don't tell me you already miss him?" the alien said, surveying the area.

"N-No!" stuttered Gardevoir, "I just thought-!"

"Hold that thought." Deoxys quickly blew up the second of the four red Gigaremo's, "Continue."

"I-I just was thinking if her were here he would solve this crisis in a flash."

"Well that would be nice, but he isn't with us right now." replied the alien curtly. She looked back at her friend "Come on- we need to find more of those Gigaremo's, the goons I captured earlier said there were two more left.

If we destroy them, then we can reverse this situation!"

* * *

><p>…<p>

…

_'ACTIVATING PROTOCOL 1-34B. ANALYSIS OF SELF: 100% RECOVERED FROM STASIS._

_ANALYSIS OF ENVIRONMENT: NO THREAT DETECTED. UNITS ONE AND THREE NOT DETECTED._

_SWITCHING PRIMARY OBJECTIVE TO FIND UNITS ONE AND THREE._

_NOW SCANNING FOR HIGHEST POWER LEVEL WITHIN RANGE._

_…_

_HIGH POWER LEVEL CONFIRMED IN HUMAN SETTLEMENT. LEVEL = 30,760 +/- 297; PROBABILITY OF UNITS ONE OR THREE IS 68%._

_POWER LEVEL LOCKED ON. CLOSING TOWARDS TARGET. ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL = 15 MINUTES 35.2 SECONDS._

_…_

* * *

><p>"My Malispite Doom Senses are tingling…" muttered the brown and sandy colored bat ominously.<p>

"No duh it's because WE'RE STILL TRAPPED!" Gliscor yelled angrily. Indeed, he Malispite, Mercifond and Gallade were still trapped their little knot. They had gotten in this situation due to being mind controlled last chapter- Kairi may have freed them from mental restraint, but now they were physically restrained.

"Mercifond! Move your hand to the left!" Gallade shouted.

"Like this?"

"Yes! Wait no! Not that far- oh man now we're even more stuck!"

No progress had been made. Oh, and now Malispite's Doom Senses were tingling too.

"She's only one Ranger!" shouted a grunt, "We can take her and take back those Pokemon!"

"He's right, let's do it! Summon the Numel!"

In a flash, the computer like laptops flipped open and the grunts typed a few commands into them. And in no time at all, from the door leading to the below came three Numel with orange spirals above their heads. They immediately attacked Kairi by spewing fire from their mouths.

The brown haired Ranger quickly maneuvered both her and her Styler out of the way, dodging most of the attacks, the Styler taking a bit of damage. She followed up with a counterattack- she looped around the three fire types a mere three times and they were freed from mind control.

"Hah… take that!" said Kairi, almost out of breathe from dodging. Strangely enough, their laptops exploded the very next second.

Kairi: "…what was…?"

Dim Sun: "Our Minremo's explode when the Pokemon is captured."

Kairi "…why?"

Dim Sun: "We don't know."

"HEY! HAVE YOU ALL CAPTURED THE THIRD ONE YET!" a pair of Dim Sun's yelled loudly before coming up onto the main deck. They saw that Kairi was still fine "Oh man, get her quick! The boss is coming up!"

_'Boss?_' thought the female ranger to herself.

"We know, we know!" said the group quickly. They typed in a few more things and this time three slugma emerged from the depths of the ship.

But Kairi had learned her lesson- before they even commanded the attack, she captured them in the blink of an eye, the slugma were sent back to their proper home and three Miniremo's exploded.

"Hey! That's cheating!" screamed some of the purple clad men.

"No it isn't! Now take this- Poison Sting!" needles dipped in purple poison were flung at the remaining members, taking out their Miniremo's and incapacitating some. Kairi smirked, they had nothing left.

"Sh-shoot! I'm telling the boss on you!" said one man, who ran as fast as he could down below.

"Oh no you don't!" Kairi started to run but paused, seeing as how her four friend were still in a pile "Er, you guys stay there! I'm going to see what happened to Barlow and the others!"

"Like we have a choice…" muttered the white bat.

"Alright, maybe if we jiggle as hard as we can we'll get ourselves undone!" Gallade tried.

"Or we might fall into the ocean." said Mercifond. The other three sighed.

The brown haired girl ran down the steps into a brightly lit hallway. She looked left and right, but strangely saw no sign of Barlow or Kincaid. She did however, see one of the Dim Sun grunts walk into a door on the other side.

The Ranger headed for that door and opened it, entering a maze like room with crates larger than her own body. Kairi soon found herself lost among the numerous crates, stumbling blindly until she found another door. That door led to another hallway, and in that hallway Kairi heard some strange noises from another doorway.

Styler ready, she opened the door to face certain danger and instead was met with-

"Barlow!"

"MNNFF! MNFF!" cried Barlow. The large man was tied up by thick rope, and a piece of duct tape was bound around his mouth. Kairi undid the tape, letting Barlow explain himself.

"Kairi, they didn't get you thank goodness!" the tanned man said.

"What's happening!"

"These guys calling themselves 'Team Dim Wits' tied me up and I think they got Kincaid and Mary Tzu too!"

"This is bad… Urg..! Barlow these ropes are too thick, I can get you free!"

"Find a Pokemon that can! Maybe Gliscor can do it!" Barlow smartly suggested. Kairi nodded her head once, vowing that she would return. The brunette was about to go back up when she remembered someone else on the bottom of this ship.

"Ruby!" Kairi realized. If this evil team was here right now, what have they done to the poor incapacitated Ruby?

**_BOOOOOOSSSSSSHHHHH!_**

As if she wasn't afraid enough, an explosion was heard down the hallway in the room where Ruby was. Kairi ran as fast as she could and opened the door, immediately smog poured out.

"Ruby! Ruby!" shouted the brown haired ranger. She coughed and gagged as she walked deeper into the cabin. Finally, there she was, blue fur with soot covering most of her body.

"Ruby…" Kairi knelt down, holding her Pokemon. Ruby coughed once, and surprisingly opened her eyes.

"Kai…ri…?" she said quietly.

"It's okay Ruby, we'll get you out of here!"

"Kairi…" said the shiny gardevoir, "DID YOU SEE THAT! I TOTALLY MADE A BOMB OUT OF WOOD!"

A pause.

"What!"

"Yeah! Mewtwo showed me how to make a bomb using nothing but wood, and it worked!"

"YOU MEAN YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DID THIS! I WAS WORRIED SICK ABOUT YOU!"

"Why's that?"

"The ship is under attack by Team Dim Sun!" Kairi shouted back.

"Well then let's beat them up." Ruby stood up, helping Kairi. The duo quickly clasped hands, and Ruby used her psychic powers to clear the smog so that they could escape. Running upwards to find Gliscor, they reached the deck of the ship in no time at all.

"Like this?"

"No Malispite, the other way!"

"OHMYARCEUS THEY MUTATED INTO A SUPER-POKEMON!" said Ruby excitably, pointing at the bundle of Malispite, his sister, Gliscor and Gallade. They groaned in response "Hello Ruby…"

"Don't worry Gallade and the others, I'll save you!" proclaimed the blue haired gardevoir.

Just then, there was a creaking sound. On top, where the ship's command center lay, a big metal door slowly opened up. Stepping out were two admins, a male and female Dim Sun. Kairi prepared her Styler for whatever came next.

"You must be the heads." guessed the female ranger, "What have you done with Kincaid? And to a much lesser extent, Mary Tzu!"

And then Kincaid stepped out. He told the two admins to steer the ship back to Almia, since if they reached Oblivia they would be cut off from supplies.

And then Kairi became very confused.

"Mr… Kincaid?"

"You still can't figure it out?" the blonde haired teacher smiled, "My dear Kairi, this was no takeover. It was sabotage."

"No… you…!" Kairi gaped. The rest of the Pokemon had their eyes wide. Kincaid chuckled lowly.

"For you see, my pitiful ranger, I, Mr. Kincaid, am actually…" the teacher spun around so fast that he became a blur. When it was done, he was wearing the same uniform as the grunts, but with a cape and mask "MR. KINCAID! THE HEAD ADMIN OF TEAM TEAM SUN!"

"GASP!" said everyone, who had not expected this sort of plot twist.

"Exactly! Calestia has been determined to be a threat to our plans, and I have been tasked by the super secret boss of our organization, who is definitely not Blake Hall, to wipe Calestia out!

Starting with you two."

From nowhere came a giant Pokemon. It landed next to Kincaid, pincers clicking back and forth as its long purple tail coiled in the air.

"A drapion…!" Kairi became nervous. These things were very strong, not to mention that her type of Styler was weak against it, and because it was a dark type not even Ruby's attacks were any good.

"Kairi…" whispered the blue haired gardevoir.

"Are those guys weak against fire attacks? Because that would be really nice you know."

Kairi: "…"

Kincaid: "…"

* * *

><p>"And that's the third one!" Deoxys said as Gardevoir destroyed Gigaremo #3 "One left."<p>

"But more importantly, where's Cresselia?" asked the green haired girl, who had not seen the pink swan in the entire time they'd been looking for her. This was getting a bit worrisome, considering the purple fog that covered the town took control of every Pokemon in it.

"We can find her later," Deoxys reasoned "since she won't be in any danger once we've destroyed the last one."

"I guess… alright, where's the fourth one then?" asked Gardevoir. Deoxys scanned high and low. The first three were pretty easy to find. Before the alien could answer, a pair of secret agents crashed in front of them. They quickly recovered and as the two women rolled their eyes, announced their credo.

"AGENT BLAZE!"

"AGENT RAPTOR!"

"AND TOGETHER WE ARE THE AWESOME SECRET AGENTS!" shouted the infernape to the heavens. Gardevoir merely stared at them, and Deoxys was shaking her head.

"I thought we got rid of you in chapter 35?" Deoxys narrowed her eyes.

"Hah! We're here to stay!" Raptor ruffled her feathers.

"Yeah, because we're the main characters!" Blaze added. However, he was then informed by his partner that Darkrai was the main character, not them.

"Anyway, where is agent Purple!" demanded Raptor, looking at the two women suspiciously.

"Wait, why do you need Gliscor?" Gardevoir asked.

"Since our last mission has ended we have returned to our original mission: to keep the plot of this story from happening at all costs!"

"Wait, this story has a plot!" Gardevoir was baffled.

"And besides, we need to train agent Purple so that he can graduate and become a REAL member. For that he needs experience." concluded the black and white bird.

"It was really odd though…" said the fire monkey, "After we told him that, he sent us a letter telling us he would be in Unova for summer vacation."

"But we looked high and low in Unova and couldn't find him." added Raptor.

Deoxys and Gardevoir nervously looked at each other, remembering Gliscor's lie he told so that he could come with them. "So why are you here?"

"We figure you would know where he is."

"Uh… Unova." lied Gardevoir.

"Nice try." Raptor narrowed her eyes "We secret agents can detect lies."

"Alright, you've got us…" Deoxys raised her hands in surrender, "He went to Sinnoh. Oreburgh I believe."

"AHA! COME BLAZE, WE'RE OFF!" and in a heartbeat they summoned a taxi cab somehow and rode towards Sinnoh. And with that inconvenience out of the way, the two began searching for the last gigaremo to save the town.

In some time, they came across a warehouse. And if one knows anything about warehouses, it's that they all contain suspicious things. In light of this logic, Deoxys tried to the door.

"Locked…"

And, if one knows about warehouses that are locked, you know for certain they are hiding something big. In light of this logic, Gardevoir blew down the door with a psychic. The warehouse was dark, but after a flip of the lights the two women gasped in horror when they saw the terrifying image of…

…

…

_Holy sh*t. I'm sorry, but I can't write that down. No, really, I'm not writing it down. I think it's a side effect from chapter 41 or something, because it's really, really disgusting. I'm replacing it with Cresselia just to speed things up._

They saw, strangely enough, Cresselia in a meditative pose surrounded by a red glowing diagram of lines. When the lights flipped on, she saw them as well.

"Deoxys! Gardevoir! You're okay!"

"Yeah, what's with the…?"

Cresselia explained that she had been working on a seal to combat the mind controlling effects of the purple fog. She had been working on it all this time, and had just recently finished it. She was meditating to come up with a plan when they showed up.

Deoxys and Gardevoir explained their current situation- Team Dim Stun was mind controlling all the Pokemon in Pueltown using these things called Gigaremos. Deoxys was naturally immune to its effects, and Gardevoir had to be captured by Zero for her to also be immune. They had destroyed 3, and if they destroyed the fourth then the fog would vanish and everything would return to normal.

"Hm… one left, eh?" Cresselia mused "You know what that means then…"

Cresselia rose off the ground, and gazed at her companions seriously "We're in for a boss fight."

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE WITH KAIRI'S OWN BOSS FIGHT<strong>

"No Kairi, tremble before my drapion! His name is Mr. Squiggly!" yelled Kincaid evilly.

"Mister… squiggly…?" questioned Kairi. Even Ruby appeared to be confused. The giant scorpion crashed down in front of them, leering at the pair menacingly. Kairi held her Styler close- this was going to be a tough fight, the drapion species were strong.

She turned her head, no support from her friends this time, as they were still stuck from that awful twister game. She turned back to Kincaid, the former teacher smirking at her from above, knowing she was outmatched by this monstrous Pokemon.

"But one thing still bothers me…" the brunette ranger began, "What happened to Mary Tzu?"

"Oh don't worry Kairi… I took care of her…"

* * *

><p><em>FLASHBACK<em>

"_And remember when Goku used the spirit bomb to defeat Kid Buu? I secretly supplied all of that energy for him! And also I caused Simon to find his drill in the first episode of Gurren Lagann! Not to mention I'm also chosen to help the chosen one fulfill his destiny, so I-"_

'Oh my Arceus this chick is annoying…'_ thought Kincaid to himself. He WAS planning on tying her up like he did Barlow, but now was reconsidering his options, since now Mary Tzu was bugging him._

_"Mary Tzu… I have a, er… special task for you! Yes, one that involves the fate of the universe, and possibly the multiverse!" Kincaid had an idea. Naturally, she took the bait._

_"Gasp! Anyone who tries to lay a hand on my beloved Zero is a stupid prep! What is it Mr. Kincaid!" asked the multicolored girl eagerly._

_"What I need you to do…" Kincaid grinned evilly, "Is use your… special teleportation powers to uh, fight off an army of evil plant people in Oblivia! Can you do it! You're our only hope!"_

_"Hah! I'll do even better than that!" bragged the obnoxious Tzu, "I'll just befriend them all with my illustrious feminine charm and that will make them stop fighting."_

_Mary Tzu ran off to Oblivia._

* * *

><p><em>END FLASHBACK<em>

"And I haven't seen her since!" said the blonde haired man proudly. Kairi actually nodded her head in approval. "Now then done… Mr. Squiggly! Get them!"

The giant dark type gave off a huge roar, and if it weren't for Ruby its claw might have slashed Kairi's head off. The ranger leapt back a few feet and told Ruby to get back too, just in time for its second claw to nearly hit the blue haired psychic.

"Oh no, the fight's begun!" growled Malispite, "We need to get out of this jumble right now!" Gallade told them all to keep pushing and hopefully they'd come undone.

Meanwhile, Kairi and Ruby began to do battle with the drapion, Mr. Squiggly. Using its poison powers, it instantly caused several pools of purple toxics to surround the area, limiting the two's movement.

The next second, it fired off a massive Sludge Bomb attack aimed at Kairi. With a cry, Kairi told Ruby to dissipate it and she did using "Blast Burn". As the Pokemon did this, the ranger sent her Styler outward towards the hulking dark type. She tried to loop around but it launched several poisonous needles in the air and hit her Styler.

The meter now reading 28/30, Kairi launched it again while Ruby distracted it with a "Fire Blast" attack. Very carefully, she maneuvered around the drapions large lumbering body and nailed in a total of five loops before it once again broke her line with an attack. Just then however, the Drapion launched a wide range Dark Pulse that knocked Ruby back. Kairi had to defend herself using her Styler, which created a protective barrier around her and prevented the energy from hitting her comparatively weak form.

When she looked back at her Styler's energy, Kairi gaped.

12/30. The drapion had taken out more than half her Styler's points in only one attack.

"Ruby, are you alright!" Kairi asked. Ruby was injured, but still able to function, giving her a thumbs up as a sign.

"Do you understand now?" grinned Kincaid from above "You're completely outmatched, Kairi. You are your pathetic partner will be defeated at my hands, tied up like your equally incompetent leader, and sent back to our headquarters where you will be tortured for information.

You cannot win you fool!"

At this, the drapion launched a massive Dark Pulse riddled with poisonous Sludge Bombs in every single direction. The girl and her partner hugged each other, combing their powers to make a shield that would last them through the fury of the giant scorpion.

It was destroyed upon impact. Kairi and Ruby fell to the floor, both highly injured. The psychic in fact, could not get back up. The brunette ranger went to her knees and fell to the floor again, her unresponsive body conflicting with survival instincts. Again to her knees she came, gritting her teeth and trying to stand as the purple clad admin above laughed at her effort. Exhaustingly, she turned her head to read the meter.

0

She had lost.

* * *

><p>"What do you mean they've all been taken out!"<p>

"I mean what I mean sir! Three of our four Gigaremo's were taken out by what appears to be an alien and a ballerina dancer!" the Dim Sun grunt repeated.

"Well then, go find the problem and FIX IT." his boss glared angrily. Then there was a loud noise and the last gigaremo was hurled into the ocean next to them. The grunt crudely remarked that the problem was there.

The three psychic women, Deoxys, Cresselia and Gardevoir strode to the last remaining section of Pueltown- the pier. Sure enough, in the docks there was a suspicious looking boat with one of their admins next to it. Next to the admin, a mind controlled toxicroak.

"You three…" the man gritted his teeth "You have destroyed all of our Gigaremo's! Prepare to be punished- Toxicroak!"

"My master's bidding, it shall be~ A load of pain, I inflict upon thee~." said the poisonous frog. At this, the women gaped in surprise. This was Thief Toxicroak, the one they had battled a long time ago!

"I don't believe it…" Gardevoir gasped.

"To think we would meet again… ladies, I think it's time for an epic rematch. Before we were weak against Weavile and her goons, but now we are strung enough to crush them into submission! Let's start this boss battle!"

And then the epic rematch never happened because a giant blue iceberg thing crashed on top of Toxicroak and froze him in a block of ice.

Everyone stared.

"Wellthat'sitformebye." The admin and the rest of his goons got out of there as fast as they could. The thing standing before them made no attempt to stop them.

It was seven feet tall, with seven yellow dots in a cross shaped structure on its 'head'. It's body was in the form of solid ice, edged and polished. Its feet were mere points, gliding along frozen ground.

"What… is this thing?" Deoxys was amazed at how eerie it looked at them.

_"ERROR: YOU ARE NEITHER UNIT ONE NOR THREE." it suddenly spoke up. Just then, it started beeping wildly _"CONFIRMED: ARCEUS DNA DETECTED IN SUBJECT TWO. POWER LEVEL IS TWENTY FIVE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED NINETY SEVEN. ODDS OF BATTLE SUCCESS = 98%.__

_SUCCES IS WITHIN ACCEPTABLE MEANS. ENGAGING NOW."_

The thing had turned hostile on them, unleashed what had to be the largest Blizzard attack Deoxys had ever seen. Gardevoir shielded them with a Light Screen while Deoxys pulled all three of them back, jumping on top of a high rise.

What they saw shocked them. It had frozen absolutely everything.

"Well, looks like it wants to-" but Cresselia never finished her sentence because the blue Pokemon blasted up at them and delivered a Hammer Arm that pushed them down on the ground. After that, an Ice Beam from its chest struck all three and knocked them back against the walls.

_"MULTIPLE HOSTILE FORCES DETECTED." _it beeped in its odd mechanical voice_ _"CALCULATING NEW ODDS OF SUCCESS: POWER LEVELS ARE 25397 + 23871 + 31023. NEW ODDS OF SUCCESS: 96%"__

"Hey, that's insulting!" Cresselia blared "Alright let's show this thing what we're made of- use Psychic!"

A triple Psychic was launched from the bodies of the three women. The pulsating burst hit its target dead on, as well as everything around it. The surrounding area warped from the energy the three gave off, but the thing stood still.

_"LOCK ON." _it beeped, apparently marking them with something. Deoxys knew this move and what it meant, so she quickly grabbed her two comrades and tried to get away.

_"ZAP CANNON." _three high speed bursts of electricity were launched from the blue thing. Deoxys quickly increased her density and fell to the ground as hard as she could, but because of the previous move, the three energy balls had marked them- they also swerved downwards.

Shifting her body to become a living shield, Deoxys absorbed all three of the Zap Cannon attacks, yet at the same time the ice type figure zoomed in on Cresselia and Gardevoir. It tried to use Signal Beams on them but they surrounded themselves with a shield.

"Deoxys, Superpower!" commanded Cresselia. As the swan and green haired psychic held back the onslaught of the blue thing, Deoxys gathered her strength and jumped down encased in fighting energy. She landed a significant blow against the creature, knocking it back a ways.

"Deoxys, you're okay right?" asked Gardevoir, knowing she had been hit with three Zap Cannon's at once.

"I'm fine… I'm the one with a power level over 30,000 so logically I should have been the one to take the blows. With Lock On, those things would have just kept coming until they hit their target…"

_"LOCK ON."_

"What!" Deoxys could not believe someone could use such a high powered move twice in a row. However, this time was different, this time Deoxys was the only one marked. It took Cresselia a second to figure out what was going on.

"Deoxys is paralyzed!" the swan realized. The alien hadn't felt it herself, but found it was very difficult to move. Which meant of course, no time to dodge or even defend against one of the greatest electric attacks of all time.

_"ZAP CANNON."_

"Gardevoir, use Psychic on me!" Cresselia ordered. Hoping Cresselia was onto something the green haired girl obeyed and launched Cresselia straight into the Zap Cannon.

The purple and pink swan concentrated as hard as possible, lowering her EP down to Zero. When she collided with the Zap Cannon, she pushed it back due to absorbing the attack slightly, pushing it all the way back to its owner.

"Refraction!" screamed Cresselia. The great move, originally used by Lugia, was designed to lower an EP down to zero and simultaneously make contact with the opponent. The gap in them would be so enormous that with a little psychic push, the EP inside of the opponent would diffuse outwards in a painful process.

Apparently sensing this danger, the thing used another Zap Cannon added to the first, and pushed back Cresselia with an even bigger energy sphere. Cresselia was in pain but pushed forward into the crackling electricity, colliding with the Pokemon and unleashing her move upon it.

The explosions surrounding the creature, it's own Energy Potential turned against itself by simple physics. These balls of highly condensed energy burst in every direction surrounding the thing and hitting it again and again until at last it was over.

Cresselia too was over. Lowering one's EP had its fair share of risks as well, and this time Cresselia had scarred her body with an extremely powerful electric attack doubled over. She collapsed onto the ground.

"You two… it's not done yet…" she gasped.

Indeed, despite the enormous amount of damage the Refraction must have done, the thing stood up with barely a scratch. It promptly used Ice Beam on Cresselia, which was deflected by Gardevoir.

Deoxys seized her chance and rammed it again with an Ice Punch and Aura Sphere, but the thing smashed back into her with a close ranged Blizzard. Gardevoir came up behind it, but it used Thunder Wave all over itself, creating an electrical field that paralyzed Gardevoir. Unable to move, she was struck with a painfully powerful Ice Punch attack that caused her to crash into the wall. After this, she became frozen by a Blizzard attack, ending her fight then and there.

Deoxys was the last one. Her two friends were struck with attacks so strong they had already been defeated. Ice was everywhere, and docks themselves were utterly decimated by this thing's Moves.

"What are you!" Deoxys shouted.

_"LOCK ON." _but the alien had had enough of that- she closed the gap between them and slammed into the blue creature with Superpower. Vulnerable after the strike, the creature Ice Punched Deoxys into the ground, then did so again.

At this point the alien was relying on reserves of emergency energy to regenerate her body. The punches this thing used created craters in its wake- and what's worse was that Deoxys suspected it was not at full power yet.

Turning herself into a liquid, the red and blue psychic got some distance between her and her opponent, only to be caught in a raging Blizzard, and then another Blizzard on top of that. Just when the winds seemed harshest and Deoxys began losing her breath, a third Blizzard was piled on top of the first one.

"No…"

The negative temperatures of the chilling attack caused Deoxys's body to stop moving completely. The red and blue psychic blacked out.

* * *

><p>"No more Styler and no more partner?" smiled Kincaid wickedly, "Well then… drapion. Fill her with some toxins that leave her just barely alive."<p>

"Kairi!" Everyone shouted desperately, despite the fact Kairi couldn't understand anything with a broken communicator.

"This is not… the end!" Kairi willed herself to stand in spite of her pain. Hazily, she watched the hulking dark type lumber over to her, hissing as it crawled. The girl stood bravely, still clutching her dead Styler "I will not fail you now… I will stand up against your horrible wrath. I will free this drapion, and I will defeat you Kincaid!

I refuse to give in to your evil!"

Kairi chucked her Styler as hard as she could at the Drapion, knocking it in the head. It flinched but responded by knocking Kairi to the ground with its huge pincer. She fell down, pinned by the force of the poison type.

"Enough of this foolishness. Use your Cross Poison to end it." commanded the purple masked man. The pincer came down.

A brown hand with red symbols blocked it.

"What!"

They were free. At the last second, Gallade, Gliscor, Mercifond and Malispite were free. "Don't you dare lay a hand on her."

Malispite easily pushed back the scorpion and helped Kairi up. The drapion used it Dark Pulse attack, but was easily blocked and countered by Mercifond. Gliscor swooped in from above and delivered a powerful Aerial Ace attack to the Pokemon, and Gallade finished it off with a Close Combat attack.

Kairi, summoning the last of her strength, ended it all by capturing the drapion and freeing it from mind control. They five of them stare upwards at the nervous Kincaid.

"We are Calestia! We don't lose to the likes of you!"

Kincaid, however, laughed. "You utter fools."

From the decks of the ship emerged something even bigger than the drapion was. It was a garchomp, the giant land shark towering over Kincaid as he stood smirking. Another emerged- hdregion. Still another, bronzong. And one more, a metagross.

"You didn't think Mr. Squiggly was my only Pokemon did you?" questioned the laughing man. Calestia remained unaltered, challenging that they'd win anyway.

"That may be, I do not underestimate your strength." the masked blonde haired man admitted, "But…"

In an instant, Ruby warped over to the bronzing, where the garchomp held a menacing claw to her throat. The members of Calestia gasped, finding themselves powerless to do anything with a hostage.

"If you try anything, consider your previous gardevoir sliced from the neck up." grinned Kincaid, "Now then, if you want to see her alive and well, I suggest you follow my demands…"

The members of Calestia were shaking with rage. Kincaid had the upper hand on them once again, everything was once more hopeless. And then the unexpected occurred.

Kairi's Styler began moving.

Kari herself was barely conscious. She hardly was thinking at all, only that Ruby needed to be safe no matter what. And somehow, someway, she moved her Styler despite it having no energy. From her antennae stretched a rainbow line, imbued with a foreign power.

"I'm taking… Ruby back…" said the brown haired ranger, now surrounded by a white line.

Her Styler seemed to move at the speed of light. In a split second the four powerful Pokemon were surrounded by a rainbow halo as Kairi looped over them in every conceivable way, in every conceivable direction.

"I warned you!" yelled Kincaid angrily, "GARCHOMP! SLIT HER THROAT!"

But as the great dragon type leaned in for the kill, it paused just before hitting her. It began shaking, as did the other Pokemon within Kairi's power. Soon the swirls on their head vanished completely. Kairi's glow permeated her entire body as she increased the speed of her Styler. Awe was the only thing to describe the scene, until finally at last, all four Pokemon, each extremely strong in their own right, were captured by none other than the brunette ranger.

"Heh. That's our Kairi for ya'." grinned the brown bat.

"She's on the team for a reason." agreed Gallade.

All four Pokemon were now under Kairi's control, and they captured Kincaid instantly. Calestia cheered, as the battle had been won. The battle over control of the boat had been won by them, and everything was going to be fine.

And then the white light enveloped Kairi completely.

Kairi vanished completely, much to the horror of those who had witnessed it.


	8. Zero's Best Day Evur

Chapter forty four: Zero's Best Day Evur

* * *

><p>It had been a full day since Zoroark had entered his 'seer' mode, or whatever it was he used to predict the future. All Roserade knew about it was that sometimes he would zone out completely, and then when he snapped out of it, would know what was about to happen.<p>

This was apparently a big one, because he had been out for a full day. And so, the elegant grass type took it upon herself to lookout for intruders despite the small chance they would come. For 24 hours she watched him, carefully guarding her boss like a guardian angel of chaos.

And then, he snapped out of it. He blinked around, the usual smile plastered on his face.

"What's the news?" she asked casually.

"Something big." the dark type grinned, "Something huge is about to happen. No time to explain- Roserade, guard the place while I'm out.

I need to get to Almia immediately."

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE WITH ABSOLIX AND MEWTHREE<strong>

"Absolix, what are we doing here?" the pink colored Mewthree asked her boss.

"We are waiting for the train." he replied immediately.

"And why do we need to get on this train?"

"Because it will take us to our destination."

"Where the heck are we going!" the psycat snapped.

"To where the train will take us, obviously." the white fallen angel chuckled "Honestly, these are childish questions Mewthree."

"BECAUSE YOU HAVEN'T TOLD ME ANYTHING!"

Mewthree had fallen asleep last night outside Cascade City's main area, since she wasn't allowed to go into the rooms because she wasn't an 'official member'. She woke up to Absolix shouting that they had to leave, and the next thing she knew she was dragged by her tail to this train station, in disguise, with Absolix standing next to her. Both wore white moustaches to blend in and look like ivysaur.

Mewthree was a bit disappointed, mainly because she nearly beat the bar of soap last night. If she had but one more minute last night…

"Ah there it is." Absolix spied the train as it slowed down into their stations. In a few moments it stopped, and five minutes later there was an announcement that they could board. Mewthree and her master walked up to the ticket booth.

"Greetings." he said kindly the tangrowth ticket manager, "Notabsolix and Alicia boarding."

"Mmhm. Get in." the grass type approved. Mewthree and Absolix walked onto the train, a spacious area with gold and red colored seats. These seats were in a circular area with a table in the center, creating a series of booths to the sides of the hallway. Mewthree and Absolix took one.

"That's the second time you've faked my name as 'Alicia'." said the pink feline suspiciously. Absolix merely shrugged his shoulders.

"Must be a coincidence." he smiled, "Then again, you do look like an Alicia…"

The psycat rolled her eyes at this remark. Absolix was of course being Absolix, refusing to tell her anything. She gazed at the red jewel on her chest, then to Absolix, waiting for the rest of the passengers to board. The fallen angel seemed to be in an unusually good mood today.

"Why are you so happy?" inquired Mewthree in a monotonous voice.

"Fufu." Absolix chuckled, "You'll see when we get there." A typical response from him.

"Now Alicia," began the white Pokemon "I did not get much sleep last night, so I'll be resting until we arrive." he looked closely at her and said mysteriously, "Do not wake me up under any circumstances."

And just like that, the fallen angel somehow fell asleep immediately. Now, Mewthree was no idiot- this was the first bit of useful information that Absolix had given her thus far, which meant somehow, Absolix getting sleep was paramount. Apparently. Actually his words had about 700 different interpretations but that seemed among the most likely.

Her situation actually seemed funny from a certain perspective. Here she was, a useless clone of a clone, genetically spliced to be practically a different species from the original, who happened to be sleeping across from herself. One wondered what made Absolix's mind ticked, and one wondered why he bothered to take interest in her at all.

And just like that, her thoughts turned to Xeno. She couldn't stop thinking about her mate, nor did she want to. She and Xeno were destined to be together; Giovanni thought so, Xeno did too, and Mewthree never argued against it. She never would, because her purple colored mate was perfect. Absolutely perfect for her.

And somehow, it made her shudder.

* * *

><p>Zero was shuddering. The blonde ranger was absolutely ecstatic, so happy he was practically squealing with delight.<p>

You see, he had made a recent discovery about these new 'Gigaremo' things. Turns out, if you just loop around Pokemon just before the complete capture, then wait a little bit, the Pokmeon get back to 'abnormal'.

In other words: Zero could do an unlimited amount of capturing.

"Oh this is the best…" sighed the world's most feared human "This is so great, I think I could sing.

In fact, right now I'm crazy enough to do it!"

And then the world most feared human began to sing as he captured everything in sight.

_"~Oh, I've got a lovely bunch of Pokemon!  
>Do-ta-lee-do~<br>Here I am, catching every one!  
>Bum-bum-bum~<br>Small ones, large ones,  
>Some as big as my ship!<br>Loop one now, wait for a bit,  
>And catch it all again~!"<em>

Zero then noticed something odd, what appeared to be great fight in the docks of Pueltown's harbor. Extremely powerful Ice Beams and Zap Cannons were being fired from one sides, with lesser powerful psychic attacks being fired from the other.

"The girls? Fighting an extremely powerful opponent?" Zero grinned, "Without me?"

Barely capturing the opposing Pokemon, the blonde haired ranger used his air shoes, combined with his dragon Styler to fly over to the site in short pulses. He arrived just in time to see Cresselia faint and Gardevoir get frozen.

"What the-!" Zero gasped. Their assailant was some sort of ice typed blue robot thing that he had never seen before. Cresselia and Gardevoir were down, and the alien was the last one on the battlefield, fighting on despite her grievous injuries.

"What are you!" Deoxys shouted. The creature merely replied with another attack, and then performed a grand total of three Blizzards stacked up on one another at her. Deoxys never stood a chance- she fell down and froze.

The blue robot stared at all of them silently. One was fainted, and two were frozen. _"BATTLE SUCCESSFUL. ALL HAVE FAINTED. DAMAGE PERCENTAGE = 26.73%. SUBJECT WITH ARCEUS DNA IS STILL ALIVE DESPITE INJURIES; PREPARING TO ELIMINATE."_

Just then, it's sensors went off, detecting yet another new threat. It turned its 'head' and lay its yellow eyes upon Zero, standing on the air above it.

_"ANALYSIS OF SUBJECT: NOT HUMAN. FROM READINGS, NEW SUBJECT MUST BE… MUST BE… ERROR: FILE CORRUPTED."it beeped._

Zero narrowed his eyes. Did that thing know what he truly was? Or rather, what he could do?

_"FILE TOO CORRUPTED: DATA ON SUBJECT UNATTANABLE."it whirred._

"Hey, you're a Pokemon right?" Zero asked, "Since you've defeated the three girls, you must be pretty strong…"

_"NEW SUBJECT HOSTILE. POWER LEVEL UNKNOWN: ODDS OF SUCCESS = 99%. ENGAGING IN BATTLE."_

Without warning it fired off an Ice Beam, a large blast of cold energy that nearly hit Zero if he hadn't seen it coming.

"Alright fine, you think you have a chance of winning?" Zero knew he shouldn't be doing his signature technique, but quite frankly he was too excited to care. His right eye began glowing, and his eight Stylers floated out of his pockets. His eyes had turned purple now, the eight Stylers orbiting around him like planets.

"Calculate your success now." Zero grinned.

_"ERROR," it replied, _"DOES NOT thing shot itself backward, not knowing what to expect from this strange threat that did not appear in its data banks. Zero attacked this time, using all eight of his Stylers to create a Hyper Beam attack. The massive black burst of sheer power directly hit the thing with more power than it dreamed of. The Hyper Beam took off a large chunk of the pier, the robot had actually been harmed.__

_"ERROR: BATTLE STRENGTH UNKNOWN." the blue creature said in its mechanical voice, apparently afraid _"CANNOT BE DISMANTLED HERE: RETREATING."__

But by the time it had computed that it stood no chance, Zero was already next to it. "You seem to know quite a bit. You'd made a good interrogation subject."

The blue creature leapt back and incredibly, fired off three Blizzards and a Zap Cannon at the same time. Zero summoned his Cotton Guard Styler, which barely shielded the blow. However the blonde human had laid a trap for his opponent, burning it away with a keenly placed Lava Plume. The thing migrated out of the way, but it tipped over carefully laid Spikes, where Zero had it surrounded.

"Octagonal Alcatraz."

The imprisoning technique fired off a pulse of energy at the blue ice type. The pulse breached every pore of the things body. Every fiber, if the thing was made of fibers, was hit with the ultimate mind wipe technique developed by Zero.

It was not powerful enough to resist. It knew this, and upon realization, decided that there was only one logical thing to do. Shut down, and divert the remaining power into a homing beacon.

Its yellow eyes grew grey and dulled, and all movement ceased.

"Ah," Zero stared, "that's never happened before… what is this thing anyway?"

Alas, the blonde haired Ranger did not know for certain. There were a couple things he did know, however- one, that the three psychic girls were knocked out and two, he ought to give this thing to the base.

That way they could revive it and he could catch it all over again. And secretly, to find out what it knew about him.

"Yo." Zero spoke into one of his Stylers, "This is Zero."

_"Zero!" exclaimed a surprised Luana _"Where have you been, we've been looking everywhere for you!"__

"Why would I be where you people are?" asked the dark Ranger rhetorically, "Anyway listen to this. I have a robot. Pokemon. Thing. Eh, anyway I need you to pick it up."

_"What? Where are you?"_

"Pueltown…" Zero replied, "Oh, and… the three psychic women have fainted. Two are frozen."

_"Are you referring to Deoxys and the others?"a new voice on the line asked. Zero narrowed his eyes. There was a flash of small light, and in warped both Mewtwo and Celebi._

The two legendaries were shocked at the sight they saw. Pueltown's harbor had been all but destroyed and replaced with a frozen wasteland. Cresselia lay to the left side, panting in her unconscious. Gardevoir lay frozen on a northern wall. And Deoxys stood in the center, one knee down still in place.

"My word…" Mewtwo levitated over to his alien compatriot "How did…? How did they get defeated?"

"This was done by an extremely powerful being…" Celebi remarked. She gazed upon the thing that Zero was leaning against. And when she did, she gasped. The guardian of nature recognized this form.

"Mewtwo!" she called harshly. Mewtwo looked up, but did not move. The green fairy flew next to him. "Look at that thing!"

"…what is it?" the psycat asked, haven't not seen such a strange creature before.

"Look at it Mewtwo!" Celebi whispered harshly

"Doesn't that look like… Regigigas?"

Mewtwo became wide eyed.

"Contact Arceus immediately." Mewtwo whispered back, "I'll deal with these three and the thing."

"Hey, what are you two talking about over there?" Zero shouted. He got no reply, Celebi vanished into a time portal and Mewtwo carefully levitated his three compatriots from their positions, frozen or not.

"I'm taking these three to the infirmary." Mewtwo said hurriedly to the blonde haired Ranger, "Guard… that… until the other rangers pick it up."

He vanished. Zero stared at the spot where Mewtwo once was. He stared back at Pueltown. He stared at the last red Gigaremo that was never smashed, naturally meaning that the mind wiping effect would continue.

_"~Oh, I've got a lovely bunch of Pokemon…!"_

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE WITH THE PLOT<strong>

"THEY'RE COMING!" Heatran screamed at the top of her lungs "EVERYONE HIDE UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE KILLED! OR WORSE- CLEANED!"

Yes, the time had finally come. Dialga and Rayquaza, last seen sent to Unova to bring back Reshiram and Zekrom- had finally returned home. Easily opening the pink portal to the Hall, they were greeted with a mix of delight and fright.

"Ah." said Arceus, just warping in, "What took you two so long?"

"Dialga said he knew a shortcut." the great green lizard scowled.

"Hey, it was a legitimate plan!" the guardian of time roared back.

"Well the next time you decide to warp the space time continuum, don't send us into a completely different series!"

* * *

><p><em>FLASHBACK<em>

_The green and blue dragons were on a field of green grass. They were overlooking a school, with Reshiram and Zekrom tied closely behind them. Confused, Rayquaza turned to Dialga and asked "Where are we?"_

_"We should have warped to Destiny…"_

_"This doesn't look like Destiny City…"_

_And then they noticed a red haired girl with a large bronze colored gauntlet looking at them. "LEON, NICK! I FOUND TALKING MONSTERS!"_

_"The heck? We're Dialga and Rayquaza, where are we?" the green dragon spoke._

_"Saint Rose Academy of course!" the girl said cheerfully, "Home of the Empowered!"_

_"…The what now?" asked a confused Dialga._

_"You screwed up!" roared Rayquaza angrily, "I think we're in a completely different universe!"_

_"Hey Mr. Dragons, can I have yor autographs?" the redhead human asked them, eagerly holding up a piece of paper and a pencil._

_"Get us out of here." commanded Rayquaza. Dialga uttered a few choice words, them they were gone._

_Two other humans joined the first one._

_"Talking monsters, Hinata?" asked one of them incredulously._

_"I swear they were here a minute ago…!"_

* * *

><p>"And the rest of the trip was us traveling through alternate universes trying to get these two idiots back here." Rayquaza was still crossed, nudging in the direction of empty chains. It was at this point that Dialga and Rayquaza realized that the chains were in fact, empty. Completely devoid of legendary dragons.<p>

"WHERE'D THEY GO?"

And then the sound of buildings being painfully smashed was heard just outside the Hall.

"ARCEUS! GET OUT HERE, WE CHALLENGE YOU TO A BATTLE!" shouted Zekrom from somewhere outside.

He and his white colored sister had escaped due to a convenient plot hole, and now they were free to tear apart their mother's city until she accepted their challenge. Zekrom's tail was glowing blue with electricity, Reshiram's orange and red. They anticipated a highly rewarding battle.

* * *

><p>RESHIRAM AND ZEKROM'S IMAGINATIONS:<p>

Arceus was killed and they ruled the world

* * *

><p>"It'll be so awesome!" they shouted happily. Their victory was certain, after all they were only up against GOD. How bad could it possibly be? Said divine being worshipped by humans long ago floated to the top of the Hall, where she eyed her two mischievous children.<p>

"Hello you two…" Arceus began, "So, as you already know, you're going to be punished for renaming Unova and taking it over too. Effective immediately, you will be subdued."

"Hah, by who, you!" taunted the fire dragon, sneering at her mother.

"Oh believe me I'd love to," Arceus narrowed her eyes, "but someone else wants to punish you even more than I.

You really shouldn't have hurt Kyurem by the way."

And then Palkia was right behind them. His red eyes glowed red, and his purple tattoo's glowed a violet spectrum, primal anger taking over his mind. They really shouldn't have messed with the girlfriend of the guardian of space.

"Release command:" growled the dragon, "Ordered Distortion."

**THIS FIGHT HAS BEEN CENSORED BECAUSE PALKIA IS JUST THAT ANGRY. SERIOUSLY, IF YOU LEARN ANYTHING FROM THIS CHAPTER IT'S DO NO MESS WITH KYUREM. EVER. HERE'S ZERO.**

* * *

><p>So eventually they had to destroy the last Gigaremo. Big deal- Zero still captured all of Pueltown 24 times. That was the first plus of his day. The second was that when he got back to Ranger Base, Kairi wouldn't be there because she was off to Oblivia! And the third was that he found an extremely amusing opponent, hibernating for now but soon it would be back to fight with him.<p>

In the meantime, he'd spar with Darkrai.

The blonde ranger arrived at the Veintown base and casually walked in. Crawford and Luana were busy scrambling to find Elaine, and placing the broken Gigaremo to the side for her to study.

"This is a crisis!" the black haired Luana proclaimed, "Pokemon are being mind controlled left and right, and the only way to free them seems to be by a Ranger capture!"

"I know, isn't it great?" Zero smiled. The two stared blandly at him "So where's Darkrai? I want to fight him."

"Didn't you hear?" Crawford rolled his eyes "Darkrai isn't here."

Zero blinked "Where is he then?"

"Don't know." Luana replied "All we know is that Victini, a very strong Legendary, took him somewhere to train him."

Darkrai was being trained by a strong legendary! "Then that means, when he gets back he'll be even moar fun to fight!"

"EMERGENCY!" Elaine suddenly burst in, a handful of papers in her grasp, "We've got confirmed report of mass mind control in the Chroma Highlands and Ruins!"

"Oh no!" said Luana, her buneary giving a small yelp of fear.

"Yes!" Zero hissed, clenching his fist and bringing it down.

"Even worse news!" the mechanic spoke horridly, "We've lost contact with Kairi! She's disappeared off the map and could be dead for all we know!"

"Could you guys please stop giving me good news?" said Zero giddily, "if I get any happier I think I might break!"

"WOULD YOU SHUT UP AND CONCENTRATE!"

"Great idea!" agreed the world most feared human, "To the Chroma Highlands I go!"

Zero began singing to himself again as he happily ran off to go find stuff to capture. The other three merely groaned in response, but did nothing because they could not stop him. Plus, they might even need him to be like that for a while…

"So what do you mean Kairi 'vanished'?" asked Crawford suspiciously. Elaine replied that she didn't know for certain- Malispite had simply said she vanished in a pool of light. This meant it could be a Teleport move, but not like anything they had seen before.

"Kairi…" Luana said softly. Her buneary hugged her leg, she too wondering what happened to the brunette. The mechanic Elaine stared at the broken Gigaremo, Crawford giving her the details on what it did and told her to reverse engineer it. Elaine looked back and forth from Luana and Crawford.

"…alright that's it." the mechanic finally snapped "We need to know what happened to Kairi, and we need to know what the hell is going on here. And thus, gentlemen…"

She finally turned to the boy Darkrai found earlier, still unable to speak, merely watching in cold silence when Elaine gazed upon him.

"Get out of here, Crawford, Luana.

Desperate times call for desperate measures."

* * *

><p>Mewthree was rather bored. Over an hour had passed and nothing had happened except for the occasional yelping infant. Across from her was Absolix, wearing a white moustache for disguise, sleeping peacefully with his hands folded on his stomach.<p>

"Why am I even here…?" wondered the pink psycat aloud. There was nothing on this train that even helped her remotely train for her inevitable epic standoff against the bar of soap. A small step, but a step nonetheless required to defeat her 'brother' Mewtwo. And, to convince Giovanni to let her and Xeno live together in peace.

A thousand questions burned in her mind. Why did Absolix bring her on this train? And why the hell did they need to get on a train in the first place if said being was a CLASS FIVE and could freaking TELEPORT them? What about the rest of Neo Genesis, were they involved with this?

_"No, Sigma hasn't told anyone where he's going."_

Mewthree jumped at the voice, but quickly calmed down. _"Is this… Xi?"she replied telepathically._

_"Your deduction is correct Mewthree."_

_"I'm here too!"_

_"As am I, baby…how's about I takeover, you and me get down to business. My treat."_

Mewthree shuddered at Alpha's flirting attempts. Recently the pink feline had discovered her boss was basically the most insane person on the planet. Absolix had a whopping total of seven alternate personalities, none of them the real him though Sigma was the most 'complete'. Sigma of course being the Absolix that was currently asleep, he had been masquerading as the real Absolix for some time.

One had to wonder where the real Absolix was.

_"Dudette, we told you this already man!" _said Theta in her mind, with Beta saying_ _"Y-Yes. Y-You have to bring us all back together… that way we'll m-merge and be complete again…"__

Right, right, right. Mewthree had been given the all important task of somehow making Absolix's personalities merge together, that way they could form together into the real Absolix again. And she had to do it by making him experience emotions.

_"Now would be a perfect time, while you have some hours with Sigma." _said Xi, the logical side of Absolix._ _"Let's perform an easier emotion. Or we could go straight to love if you'd prefer the quickest route."__

Mewthree turned red at the though, replying with a resounding "NO!" to all six of them.

_"Fine. How about rage? See if you can make Sigma mad."_

_"And just how do I do that?"_

_"Wake him up with the most powerful attack you can muster."_ Xi sighed tiredly. Mewthree was more than happy to oblidge- Absolix had been annoying her all day. With a might burst of psychic energy, she flung a super powered Aura Sphere onto Absolix's bare flesh. It bounced back and flew through a window, deflected by a shield at the last second.

_"H-He used a seal on himself, remember?" _Beta said nervously, as per his emotion.

_"Well gee, that's just great." _Mewthree snarled,_ _"Because now that I've missed, the passengers are starting to take notice!"__

_"Calm down Mewthree. If we proceed with a plan, then nothing worse will happen."_

And then the roof crashed down, followed shortly by an army of krokorok. They told everyone that this was a heist, and that if they did not obey they would be Mud Shot until they wanted to.

"I hate jinxes." Mewthree stated.

Jynx: "I find that offensive!"

Mewthree: "Not you, the other kind of jinx."

* * *

><p><strong>TRANSITION<strong>

The SS SOS had landed in the Aqua Resort of Sophian Island, as per instructions. Despite the setback of mutiny and Team Dim Sun nearly destroying the lot of them, they had made it there more or less unharmed. That is, except for Kairi.

"What do you mean you don't know where she is!" Gallade blared at Barlow, "You're humans you know everything!"

"Boy do I wish that were true." Barlow said in a low voice, "Listen, her Styler is turned off, or broken. That basically means we no longer have a signal to track her by. Without a signal, we have nothing."

"Are you serious!"

"Look, Kairi could have been teleported at ANY range!" Barlow yelled back, "She could be anywhere in the world for all we know! Looking for her is pointless. We have to accept that fact."

Gallade stared silently at Barlow, then Ruby who was clutching his side. The pain on her face was harsh, what else could Gallade do but comfort her in her time of worry.

"…Look." the tanned man sighed, "Ruby, you know Kairi better than anyone. She'll make it back here, she always does. She'll be back before we know it."

Though Barlow's words sounded confident enough, there was still worry behind his voice. Ruby shied away from Gallade, off to quell her fears in some other way. To the side, Malispite, Gliscor and Mercifond stood with their arms crossed, watching the blue haired gardevoir promptly walk back into the hotel.

"So. We do nothing…" Gliscor slowly said. The twin bats merely looked down in response. That is, until Malispite spoke.

"No. We didn't come here to do nothing." the brown bat huffed, "We came here to stop a crisis. Something strange is happening, and it could very well be related to Kairi's disappearance."

Everyone looked up at Malispite, who began walking in the direction of one of the sites- a great frosty mountain. "I say, we get our mission done and we find Kairi."

"Now that sounds like a good plan." Gliscor agreed, "They said Mt. Sorbet was home to a bunch of mind controlled Pokemon too, didn't they?"

"Well then what are we waiting for?" Mercifond got up and flew after her brother. Gallade looked at the mountain, looked at the hotel, Barlow, then raced off to catch up with the rest of them. The large man stood still, gazing at their backs until they had vanished into the mountain's cave.

* * *

><p>The krokorok were swarming all around the car, the first thing that they did was lock it up so no one could escape. Once this had been done one or two of them went to a specific booth to surround everyone on board. This particular gang, being dexterous with their thumbs, had some guns on them as well.<p>

When these objectives had been achieved, one of them said something on a portable radio. Seconds later, a massive red colored lizard with a black mask jumped down to the their car. He wore a white hat complete with a belt that holstered twin large barrels.

"Genle'men. Ladies." said the newcomer in a southern accent "Le's get introduction straight, shall we? Name's Krookodile, greatest thief in the west. Now nobody say nothin, hand over all yer valuables and nobody's gonna haveta die today."

Mewthree knew they were in a predicament now. That Krookodile looked tough, not to mention she had magically lost support of Absolix's seven extra personalities. A krokorok stood there with two guns, both her and the sleeping Absolix at gun-point.

"You heard the boss." said the krokorok, handing Mewthree a sack. She stared at it blankly.

"I have nothing of value." stated the pink feline. The krokorok turned to Absolix, yelling at him to wake up, but Absolix did not stir. The ground type then turned to his boss, yelling that he had nothing in his corner.

"Pity," the boss said "kill them.

Without hesitation the crocodile Pokemon turned back and pulled the trigger on his gun. But Mewthree was faster; she pressed psychic energy against the barrel and the gun never shot the bullet. In her next move, she silenced the beast and dragged him to her table, instantly knocking him out with a well aimed strike to the head. Sweat dripped down Mewthree's neck. No one had noticed, but it was only a matter of time before they did.

What should she do? Absolix wasn't awake and they were practically surrounded by the crooks! Should get them to safety somehow? Panic was spreading through her as two more krokorok ventured near her.

It came to her when she realized a simple rudimentary fact.

Absolix was asleep.

Now why would the class Five be asleep in a noisy train full of robbers? And why would his seven personalities mysterious vanish in the middle of a sentence? The answer: Absolix was not sleeping at all. And why would Absolix, fully awake, not bother lifting a finger against impending danger?

Answer: because he wanted her to do it.

"You've got to be joking." Mewthree frowned. This is the whole reason why she came- because her boss had actually managed to put her in one of his 'training exercises'. Upon this realization, she could have sworn Absolix smiled.

"Fine, I'll do it." Mewthree huffed at her ridiculous boss. The mooks she could easily take, but their sheer number could be overwhelming. Plus, Krookodile looked tougher than all of them combined.

The psycat clenched her fist, and icy cold energy filling her palm. It would have to be quick. Extremely quick.

Luckily, speed was her thing.

"Hey, why aren't you done yet?" said one of the two krokorok that came up to her. He gasped when he realized his compatriot was knocked out, and one gasp was all Mewthree needed to knock them both out with an Ice Beam attack.

The thieves took notice of this immediately and that was Mewthree's plan. Their guns were held high and they exited their booths to shoot the resistor. Again, Mewthree's plan. Before any of them fired a single shot, Mewthree launched the most impressive Ice Beam attack in all of history- an elegant multi-directional shot that was angled perfectly that it hit every single member of the gang at once, instantly knocking them all out.

Krookodile barely had time to register that his posse had been defeated. All thirty members.

"Why you-!" the red lizard snarled angrily. Mewthree panted from her effort. She had defeated the gang at the cost of a lot of her energy. Now, she would have to take down its boss.

The boss charged at her with his jaws open in a Crunch attack. The narrow hallway provided no means of escape, so Mewthree fired off another Ice Beam in his mouth. However, the thief kept charging despite the damage, and with a mighty Crunch took out Mewthree and most of the hall.

The psycat broke free from his jaws with some psychic power, and launched herself further back toward the end of the car. Spectators stared at her in awe, but Mewthree knew she was outmatched. Krookodile's attack hurt her gravely, and she was running out of power.

"Nowhere to run, lass." Krookodile flipped up his guns and shot at her.

Now, stopping a bullet is harder than most people think. Yes bullets are small, but they are also extraordinarily fast. Despite their small mass the huge acceleration means they come out with a great deal of force.

To apply psychic power to stop a bullet means one would have to use the same amount of force on the bullet to cancel it out. While some are able to do this, only a few are able to control their powers to such an extent they can hit it dead on with enough force to stop the bullet. Again, bullets are small.

Most psychics simply use the easier route: deflection. Mewthree did this, applying just enough force to knock the bullet off course and harmlessly into the wood. Yet, Krookodile kept firing and Mewthree kept having to deflect bullet after bullet, all while making sure that the civilians to her right and left weren't hit by her deflective bullets.

The onslaught of metal continued until the psycat was at her knees. Mewthree was exhausted, practically gasping for oxygen in hopes it would give her more EP. Krookodile fired one bullet and this time it nearly hit her. The great crocodile Pokemon loomed over her by a good eight feet. He reloaded his gun, and pointed it at Mewthree's head at point blank range.

"End of the road."

And it was indeed the end of the road for Mewthree. She had no energy left, what could she do? Absolix had clearly abandoned her at this point, there was simply no hope left.

And Mewthree was sick of it. She was sick of being overwhelmed, sick of always losing her battles, and sick of always needing to be saved.

So when Krookodile fire off his gun, she teleported behind him and prepared five Aura Spheres. The stunned krookodile gaped when he saw Mewthree's newfound strength, empowered by a calculating rage. "I'm not dying today!"

She hit him in the same spot five times with five Aura Spheres. Each blow sent a shockwave of fighting energy through his stomach and throughout his body. Five total blows sent him and the wall crumbling down, where he uselessly fainted and fell off the train altogether.

At the sight of this, Mewthree felt her power draining. Still, she nodded her head in approval and collapsed onto the ground.

"So this is why most people collapse after they fight…" Mewthree muttered to herself. Yet, she was happy. She had finally discovered her true powers. She overexerted herself, and she became stronger as a result.

"Bar of Soap… you're next…" swore the pink psycat.

* * *

><p>The tourists of Almia saw a strange sight whilst they toured the Chroma Road and Ruin. They happened to see a blonde haired ranger in a blue uniform delightfully swinging his Stylers around every single Pokemon they could imagine. He skipped through the field and sang songs of joy while rainbows followed behind him.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE IN DESTINY CITY<strong>

Reshiram and Zekrom had been reduced to a bloody pulp. They lay dying on the ground while Palkia stood watch over them.

"Don't f*** with my girlfriend." the guardian of space growled.

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE WITH CALESTIA<strong>

The Calestia in Oblivia saw a strange sight when they toured the Mt. Sorbet. They happened to see mind controlled Pokemon as they had expected, but all of them were fainted. Every single one on the mountain was unconscious.

"Who or what could have done this…?" Gliscor eyed the bodies.

And, upon reaching the top of the mountain, they saw who did it. Or rather, they saw the three who had done it. One was a blue and grey Pokemon with stag like horns. The second was a green and pale colored Pokemon with tufts of fur instead of horns. The last was a brown and grey one with colossal bull-like horns. All three resembled deer and had markings akin to boots on each of their four legs.

"Halt!" the blue one commanded the members of Calestia, "Be you friend of foe?"

* * *

><p><em>"Oh my."<em>

_Absolix looked around. Here was blankness and a dark skinned African. "And I was having such a good dream too."_

_"Absolix." stated Alekandra. He coughed once or twice, "I finally found you…"_

_"You don't look so well." stated the fallen angel, frowning. "Don't tell me…"_

_"I have received my last visions." the wizened old man confirmed Absolix's fears. The fallen angel twitched his tail and stared hard at Alekandra. Once a seer had received the last of their visions, they soon died._

_"I'm sorry for not being around for you to find me." said Absolix politely._

_"I have a message for you. A prophecy that will come to pass." the grey eyes of the old man stared deep into Absolix's gold ones._

_"Absolix… there will come a time when you must make a choice." said Alekandra, "And this is a choice that you must make. Your choice and your subsequent actions… will either save or destroy the entire world."_

_"That doesn't sound good." frowned the white being._

_"No. It does not." Alekandra looked down, "But this is what I have seen. I can only pray you choose to save this world of ours."_

_"Hmph." Absolix smiled, "Well, I don't think you have to worry. I won't be able to make the choice anyway."_

_"And why would that be?" inquired the old man._

_"Because you and I have something in common." Absolix raised his hand._

_"We're both going to die very soon."_

* * *

><p>The dream ended when the fallen angel snapped his fingers. He looked upon the opposite seat and saw Mewthree bruised and battered.<p>

"Good morning, sunshine!" said the white being, "And my don't you look chipper today!"

Mewthree did her emo glare of Absolix. It had no effect. "How?"

"How what?" asked Absolix.

"How did you know that this train would be attacked by thieves? That's the only part I don't understand."

"Oh?" smiled the white being, "We're we attacked by the Krookodile Gang while I was sleeping?"

"How did you know it was the Krookodile Gang?" Mewthree raised an eyebrow.

"Why, a lucky guess of course!" laughed the fallen angel, earning him yet another sigh from his apprentice. Just then the train began to slow down, and a few minutes later the whistle had blown, signaling for everyone to get off. Absolix took Mewhree and led her out to their destination

A desert with absolutely nothing in it other than railroad tracks. The train sped off.

"Here we are Mewthree." said Absolix happily.

"THERE'S NOTHING HERE!" she screamed.

"Oh my dear girl…" sighed the fallen angel. With a snap of his fingers, he instantly formed some seals and began to work his magic on them. "This isn't just any random location you know."

"Oh yeah, and what's so special about all this?" Mewthree pointed to the vast nothingness.

"Why, this is the area where the incomplete spatial network is."

The spatial network? As in, the spatial network designed by Arceus that enabled instant travel between here and Ribos!

"Luckily I am a seals master, so I can get a small charge or two from this thing, broken as it may be." Absolix smirked, seeing as how his seals had begun to do their work. "Hold on tight."

The next thing Mewthree knew she was flung into a hurricane or something. Distortion galore and disruption abound met her stomach and she nearly threw up from the crazy ride. But it only lasted five seconds.

Mewthree beheld Ribos. More specifically, the queen's council chambers. There in the center, sitting at her desk, was the supreme queen of this planet, Helix.

"H-H…" Mewthree gaped at being in the presence of such a powerful being.

"Absolix." the supreme queen nodded her head "Right on schedule. And I see you've brought a guest."

"My new apprentice." Absolix said, "So, shall we begin, Helix?"

"Wait what's going on here?" Mewthree was confused "Why are we on Ribos? And why are we speaking to Helix of all people!"

"…you didn't tell her, did you?" the red and white ribonian sighed "Actually, I have also forgotten why you're here."

"Because I set up a playdate with you." Absolix smiled, "You know, to fight you."

Mewthree gaped in horror. Class Fives never fought each other unless absolutely necessary. Their clash could wipe entire cities off the map, and if what Absolix said was true, it meant Ribos, being as small a planet as it was, was screwed.

"Helix, I assume you have a place for us to do battle?"

"Ah yes, I remember now." the golden caped queen stood up "There's an asteroid close by to our planet that's big enough."

"Excellent." Absolix grinned "Mewthree, wait here. It might be a day or two and I don't want you getting lost."

Helix concentrated, and the two warped. Instantly, Absolix was on a large asteroid. In the distance, he saw Ribos.

"Oh my, it even has oxygen." he said in surprise.

"Yes, using some seals I've made a small temporary atmosphere around this Asteroid. Don't break it or we'll be forced to run on anaerobic processes." Helix walked to the side.

"I'm not quite sure I can do that." Absolix remarked.

"You're not missing much. It's a pain, getting energy without air." sighed the supreme queen, "You know Absolix, I did not once take you for a fool. But this is ridiculous, challenging me to outright combat when you know I'm the better of us two."

"Maybe you were once." Absolix smiled, "But I'm stronger now. You won't be disappointed."

Helix began walking in a circle, Absolix too circling his opponent. "I think not. At heart, you're still just a brat while I have 200 years of experience."

"Keep talking tough all you like, Helix." Absolix's eyes and symbols glowed menacingly. The air began to get heavy as their power levels rose higher and higher, eventually to suffocating levels.

"Just be sure to keep your end of the deal when I win."

A large explosion that blew up half the asteroid started this battle. It was the first trigger in the war to come.


	9. Descent Into Phobia

Chapter 45: Descent into Phobia

* * *

><p>"I don't… believe it…"<p>

Arceus was staring at none other than Regice. Yes, Regice. Mewtwo and Celebi had discovered it.

"Arceus, what is this thing?" Mewtwo asked. He had gotten them a private area, because he and the forest guardian were concerned about it being related to…

"…As you suspect, it's related to Regigigas." Arceus spoke quietly, looking behind her to make sure no one heard her "Remember when I told the story of how my ancestors sealed him away with three keys? That, Regice, is one of them."

This naturally shocked the psycat and grass type.

"The humans at the time helped my many times great grandfather. Using their technology, some seals, and power borrowed from my ancestor, they created a hybrid of machine and Regigigas essence. This is why they do not appear to be Pokemon- rather they are only half living creatures. The rest of it, their machine half, have power to unlock Regigigas."

"What is one of the keys doing here?" was what Mewtwo asked after that.

"Unfortunately we can only conclude they were released from their slumber, and are roaming the world as we speak." Arceus said seriously.

"Who would possibly want to release the keys to unlocking Regigigas!?" Celebi questioned in horror. Arceus thought for a bit.

"Well, the only way this could have happened without the alarm alerting me is if someone flipped the switch to their activation." said Arceus logically, "And I entrusted the switch a long time ago to-"

* * *

><p><em>FLASHBACK<em>

_"Helix!" said a younger version of Arceus, "Can you do me a favor?"_

_A younger version of the supreme queen looked up at her friend "Sure, what is it?"_

_"I need you to guard this." the future God replied, handing her a button inside a glass case._

_"What is it?"_

_"Well you see, if this button is pressed then it releases the three keys to unsealing Regigigas." explained Arceus, "So it is paramount that I entrust them to someone powerful, like you."_

_"I see." said the supreme queen, "Very well, I'll always remember to guard it."_

* * *

><p>"…"<p>

"…"

"…SHE'S THE ONE WHO RELEASED THEM!"

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE ON RIBOS<strong>

"I have a strange feeling that someone is extremely angry at me." Helix suddenly noted. And then a few seconds later, Arceus' hologram appeared in her office.

"HELIX!"

"What the-!? How are you even doing this!?" questioned the Supreme Queen.

"I HACKED THE SPATIAL NETWORK!" Arceus blared, "Why would you release the three Regi keys!? That's a dick move!"

"We're at war." Helix stated blandly.

"Well it was still a dick move!"

"Look, I don't even know what you're talking about. I don't remember releasing any-"

_"Hm, what's this?"_

Helix remembered. "Oh. Ohhhh… so that's what the button did…well look, I agree that was a dick move, even if we're at war, but it's already been done."

"And you're not going to do anything about it!?"

"Nah," the alien replied "I still hate you so there. Bye."

* * *

><p>Helix closed the channel between them, their conversation cut short. "Tch. Well fine, we move to plan B. Mewtwo, are you listening?"<p>

The psycat was also online. He, as per Arceus' instructions, had taken the shut down Regice to a clearing far away from people and Pokemon. _"Affirmative"_

"Mewtwo, you're going to have to kill this thing." said Arceus, "I need you to deliver the strongest blow possible to its core. Aim from the head and make sure it penetrates to the feet."

_"…And that will destroy it for good?" _asked Mewtwo.

"It should." Arceus said nervously, "Truthfully, I don't know the exact method of resealing the regi's, so we'll have to make do with destroying one of the three keys. That will put a stop to their plans."

_"I see. Will do Arceus."_

"But just to make sure, keep Regice in your sights at all times." added the equine legendary.

_"Affirmative. Over and out."_

* * *

><p>A great shockwave reached the trees near the Ranger Base. Celebi stood, watching Mewtwo carefully in the distance while he delivered a critical blow to Regice's structure. True to his word, the psycat did it in one blow. Celebi saw all life in it cease, as all of its strange biomechanical organs were broken completely.<p>

Mewtwo levitated the broken body back to Veintown. "Arceus says we should watch this thing anyway."

"Why? It's dead isn't it?" Celebi narrowed her eyes.

"Supposedly." Mewtwo frowned. Its strange mixture of biology and technology might find a way to revive, but naturally he had no way of knowing. "How are the three?"

"Thawing them took me all night." remarked the pixie "The thing did a number of them. You can't just unfreeze them you know? You have to do it slowly while healing their wounds just as slow."

"But how are they doing now?" Mewtwo questioned impatiently. Celebi sighed. She said they were currently unconscious, and still required more healing, but the three would live.

"Good." finally the psycat could breathe a sigh of relief. He had been worried sick over them, especially Deoxys since she had taken the most damage. But it appeared as though she was going to be fine after all.

Despite this good news, Mewtwo was uneasy. He had been ever since he had arrived in Almia. He knew why, and the answer wasn't pretty.

"So, how's the forest?" asked the psychic, trying to get his mind off his plaguing insanity.

"Lost." said Celebi bitterly, "Those damn humans… they think they can do whatever they want and let us clean up their messes. I ought to strangle that human inside for his stupid, idiotic…"

Mewtwo was silent. Despite their intelligence, the humans really weren't doing a very good job of running the world. The sheer agony on Celebi's face made Mewtwo want to say a few things, try to comfort her somehow. But there was only one being who could possibly do that.

He had spoken with her last night.

* * *

><p><em>FLASHBACK<em>

_Mewtwo was dreaming again. He was very certain of it, because he was standing on nothing and everything was fuzzier than it should be._

_"Oh boy, someone's trying to invade my mind." smiled Mewtwo sarcastically, "Well whoever this is, good luck. I can't even control my own thoughts any more."_

_"Oh Mewtwo, ever the drama queen."_

_Mewtwo flinched. He turned around and saw what he did not expect. The soft motherly voice came from a pink colored cat Pokemon, floating in the air._

_"I know who you are." said the purple colored psycat, "You are Myuu, correct?"_

_"Indeed." said the pink feline, smiling._

_"Come to give me another lecture on why I shouldn't be upset about never having one original thought in my life, being a clone and all?" Mewtwo crossed his arms, "Spare me the lecture unless you have new DNA evidence that I don't."_

_"Stubborn as always." sighed Myuu, "That's okay. You just need to meet the right girl." she peered closer at him "Oh my? It looks like you already have!"_

_"Why are you here?" grumbled Mewtwo._

_"Well, this time I have a couple questions for you." said the pink feline "I need to know… how is Celebi doing?"_

_Mewtwo paused. He looked down, unsure of what to tell her: the hatred of humans, or her obsession with their evil. Myuu saw this and closed her eyes. "I see."_

_"Invade her dreams. She needs it more than I."_

_"I can't." Myuu said apologetically, "I don't have enough power."_

_"And now for the million dollar question." Mewtwo's tail flicked the air, "Are you alive or dead? Because last I checked, dead creatures have no Energy Potential."_

_"I'm alive. That's the second message I need to deliver." she replied, "Last time I asked you to save me. Now I'm going to tell you why. I am being locked away-"_

_"Oh no you don't, you rat." suddenly Myuu found it very hard to talk. She struggled to get words out but instead appeared as if she were choking; drowning in her words._

_"Mewtwo. So glad to talk to you again. I'm afraid Myuu has already told you more than you need to know, so we'll cut this chat short." said the deep voice that came from nowhere._

_"And as for you, my dear pet… you won't ever talk to him again."_

* * *

><p><em>END FLASHBACK<em>

The dream ended just like that. Myuu was, apparently, alive. Imprisoned in fact. He did not know where or why. He did however, have one clue. The voice that dragged her back was the same as the previous time they met. And this second time, Mewtwo recognized the voice.

"Celebi, I have something to tell you." the words flew out of his mouth before he even knew it, "Myuu is alive."

Celebi stared at him coldly, stared at him like he was mad "Don't."

"I know it sounds unreasonable, but this is the second time I've seen her in a dream."

"I said don't!" Celebi yelled angrily.

"Her death was faked! She says she's been captured!" Mewtwo yelled back, but Celebi flung vines in his face and vanished. Mewtwo cursed under his breath. Of course she wouldn't believe him. She wouldn't believe her best friend was alive and in the hands of the most diabolical human to have ever roamed this planet.

Giovanni.

Yes. That was the voice of the Team Rocket leader in there. Myuu was captive, and Giovanni had her. Worse, Mewtwo doubted anyone would ever believe him.

So yeah, here he was holding information on a dead woman that was really alive in the hands of an evil mastermind. Oh, and also he had no idea where to look for her and everyone would think he was crazy if he told them about it. Oh joy.

Mewtwo almost thought he was delusional. Hell, he really might have been imagining the whole thing. It was too hard to tell reality from fantasy anymore, especially with that annoying girl's presence interfering with-

"Mewtwo?"

He flinched when she said his name. Yes, she was the reason Mewtwo had been nervous.

"Gardevoir, how good to see you awake." Mewtwo lied, refusing to turn around and face her. That would just make his insanity grow.

"Yeah… I'm up." Gardevoir said slowly, "The others aren't. Mewtwo, I've been meaning to ask you-"

"I'm sorry Gardevoir, but I'm busy at the moment."

Yes, Mewtwo was definitely going insane. He knew it, and he knew Gardevoir was the cause of it. At first he barely felt anything. Then slowly, the feelings grew. Then slowly, they consumed his mind with chaos.

He first realized the problem when he nearly killed her, mistaking the green haired girl for his nemesis, the nefarious Absolix M. Solaris. Since then he had been desperately trying to avoid contact with the girl, since that seemed to lessen the effects. Still, he could feel her. Her horrid, bitter aura plaguing his mind with fear. Why did he feel like this? He did not know.

All he knew was that he constantly pictured himself strangling her. He felt horrible afterwards, but when his mind drifted the visions came again.

Her neck was, after all, so lithe and easy to squeeze. Just a small psychic push would be necessary and-

"Mewtwo!?"

She was in front of him. From the sweat on her face, and her strained vocal cords, she had been shouting at him for a while. Instinctively, he pushed himself away from her.

"…What do you want? Make it quick." Mewtwo gritted his teeth, forcing his mouth to say those words instead of other terms that came unto his collapsing mind.

"I…I…" Gardevoir said nervously, "I, I want you to train me!"

Not even in a million years could he ever think Gardevoir would say those words.

"Come again?"

"…Mewtwo, I'm dead weight on this team. And I don't want to be. So please-"

"No!" said Mewtwo quickly, knowing how disastrous his psyche was towards her. He huffed and quickly corrected himself "I mean, I'm a horrid teacher. You'd be better off learning from someone else. Like Celebi."

"I already tried her…" admitted the female psychic "she was… in a really bad mood."

"Well, um…" Mewtwo was at a loss for words, especially because of the fact all of them were jumbled up in his brain. It was a wonder how he looked so calm when his insides were a torrential vortex of utter disorder.

Luckily, Mewtwo was saved. Because it was at that moment that three others arrived at the ranger base. One was a ghost type, plump with a came and a single red eye. Another was a karate master, though his short wormlike appearance mislead him. The last was an angry spider. All three were old.

"Team Nova has arrived! Hoho!" said Dusknoir happily.

"Yeah, it's about damn TIME." Ariados glared at the stout karate master. Master Dunsparce stared at her. "Yeah, you better freaking apologize…"

"Team Nova!" Gardevoir was surprised to see them, "That's right, you came to Almia too!"

"Indeed!" said Dusknoir, "Unfortunately we got a bit held up!"

"A bit?" questioned Ariados, "It took us eight chapters to get here when it should have taken us ONE!"

Naturally, the young psychic had to ask what happened. Dusknoir explained they had been traveling to Almia like normal when they found something strange- a plot hole in the story. The plot hole was so big that they fell through, and it was only now that they were able to escape it.

"Yes, Dunsparce insisted we check it out." Ariados said, "It was a nightmare in there…"

"So, what's this about training then?" the ghost type looked at Gardevoir. She told them that she wanted to be stronger, they had recently lost against a Regice and Gardevoir felt like she was holding the rest of the team back. Utterly decimated, she found resolve to grow stronger for the sake of her friends.

"Ah, so it's a man then?" said Ariados drolly.

"What the-? No!" Gardevoir blushed, "Nothing like that!"

"Ah, young love!" Dusknoir smiled. Master Dunsparce stared at him. "Ah, so it's Darkrai is it? Hoho!"

"We-We're really just friends…" Gardevoir stuttered.

"Speaking of which, where is he?" Ariados eyed the place, seeing high nor tail of the pitch black Pokemon. Dunsparce too wanted to know, since he had a job of training his pupil. The green haired psychic told them about Victini, and how Darkrai went off to train with him.

"Oh my. A lot of things happened while we were away didn't they?" Dusknoir commented. Gardevoir explained that Victini was a legendary from the distant region of Isshu Unova, and was incredibly powerful when they met him. It was at the mention of Unova that Ariados remembered him.

"Ah yes, Victini…" she said, having met him once or twice before "And you say he's decided to train Darkrai? My my…" Ariados mused, "this is quite shocking. Not to mention fascinating…"

"Is it really that big of a deal?" questioned Gardevoir.

"Oh yes. What Victini's done is huge according to his culture." the spider rambled, "But enough about that. Let's get started with your training. Follow me."

"Y-You're going to…?" the psychic was wide eyed. '

"Well I'm the only one who specialized in ranged attacks, and you don't seem like the punching/kicking type." Ariados motioned, "So come on already."

"Thank you!" Gardevoir raced after her. Dunparce and Dusknoir stared at the two women, heading off into a clearing.

"Hoho! Well then, it looks like another teacher had filled your position." Dusknoir mentioned to his friend. Master Dunparce stared.

"Quite right. We came here to turn these youngsters into men and women, and that we shall do!"

Cresselia and Deoxys groggily walked out of the door, having been mostly healed by the grass pixie. As soon as they did, Dusknoir decided it was time to train them. "We'll turn you into proper women! Now En Guarde, Shadow ball!"

Unfortunately the two weren't exactly at their best, so the Shadow Ball hit them and made them instantly faint. Celebi stormed out after hearing the explosion "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO TO MY PATIENTS!?"

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE ON THE PEAK OF MOUNT SORBET<strong>

Three strangers stood in front of them, a line of defeated mind controlled Pokemon in their wake. One was grey and brown colored, stout but looking incredibly powerful with his giant horns. The second was green and peach colored, a light grace in his footsteps. The last was blue and white colored, antlers protruding proudly from his forehead. All three looked like deer.

"Be you friend or foe?" the blue one questioned.

"That depends. Who are you?" Malispite immediately answered.

"…passerby's." answered the blue one, looking over at the other two "And you?"

"Sent by Arceus on a mission." Mercifond answered. At this, the three widened their eyes. Laughing, the brown one explained that they were all on the same side- these three were Unova legendaries.

"We are the three Muskadeers." explained the green one, "I'm Virizion, that's Terrakion, and our 'de facto' leader Cobalion."

"Hey, I'm the oldest brother that means I am the leader." Cobalion sharply replied. Virizion and Terrakion sighed "Anyway, we are also on an official mission from Arceus."

"Oh wow, really?" Gliscor asked "We're here to figure out why there's Pokemon being mind controlled. What's yours?"

"Escorting princess Meloetta back to Unova!" replied Cobalion. The Unova hierarchy worked like this: Though Kyurem was rightful guardian to the country, Meloetta was its rightful ruler. Her mother passed away some time ago, so Arceus charged Kyurem with both being its guardian and ruler until her daughter, Meloetta, became of age.

However, as noted, Zekrom and his sister Reshiram wanted to be in charge. They booted out Kyurem through combat, but also needed to secure Meloetta so the citizens couldn't bring up her background as princess. Luckily the three Muskadeer's found Meloetta first and got out of there as fast as possible.

"But Arceus gave the okay a while ago, so we're headed back to Unova. You guys know our where we are?"

Unfortunately, they went in the wrong direction. As explained by Gallade, they were off by about the span of five countries. Big ones, too.

"Mount Sorbet…" sighed the brown bull "Cobalion…"

"What!? It was an honest mistake!"

"We missed our target by at least fifty thousand miles." Virizion growled "And how the hell did we get here anyway? We WALKED all the way here!"

"So?" Cobalion asked.

"OBLIVIA IS AN OCEAN LOCKED COUNTRY." the green deer noted a conflict in logic. Cobalion narrowed his eyes and thought back. No, they didn't remember crossing any oceans to get here.

"Then…" Mercifond gaped.

"How…?" Gliscor gaped.

"It does not matter!" Cobalion stamped his hoof, akin to Arceus's own method. "Terrakion, bring out the princess! Let her know we've found allies!"

"Oh boy, royalty." Malispite said 'enthusiastically'. Mercifond shot him a dirty look. "What? Everyone knows all these royal types are a pain to deal with. She's probably a spoiled brat with a knack for getting in trouble."

"Hey, that's just a stereotype." Gliscor noted "What about Prince Willaim and Kate Middleton? They're supposed to be nice guys!"

"They threw the largest party in the history of the world as their country's debt piles up." Malispite retorted.

"Well, but about half those funds came from donations!" Mercifond pointed out.

"Would you guys please stop breaking the fourth wall!?" Gallade shouted angrily. Everyone stared at the normally happy green knight, who shot them a dirty look before turning back to their guests.

"Terrakion, did you lose the princess or something?" Cobalion rolled his eyes at how long it was taking him.

"THE PRINCESS IS GONE!" Terrakion screamed from somewhere. Cobalion and Virizion paused. "OH SH*T!"

Panic mode hit the group instantly, the two remaining deer raced off to join there brother, where they discovered Meloetta's hiding spot was empty. The four members of Calestia flew over too, gazing at the sight.

"We're dead." Virizion panicked, "We've lost princess Meloetta, now we'll never become real legendaries!"

"Wait, I thought you said you already were legendaries?" Mercifond noted his Freudian slip. The three deer like Pokemon now had a bead of sweat on their heads.

"Uh… maybe we lied a little bit…" Cobalion said nervously. "B-But anyway this is serious! It was true that we had to get Meloetta back to Unova, and now she's gone!"

"Hey, I just had a thought." Gliscor paused, "You guys saw a bunch of mind controlled Pokemon, right?"

"…yeah." the blue deer said, "We asked Meloetta to hide here while we beat them. Wait! You don't think she was captured by-"

* * *

><p>"Red Eyes, sir!" two grunts in green uniforms saluted their leader, "Princess Meloetta has been secured!"<p>

"Dude!" remarked their leader, and blonde and red haired man in a red uniform, "That's like, totally righteous dude! I am SO stoked! We're charging in some gnarly promotions for this heavy! Akaw!"

The grunts would never get used to their boss's lingo. They did however catch the 'promotion' part, which was indeed a good possibility, seeing as how they nabbed one of Unova's prime authority figures.

"Dudes!" their boss said, "I'm gonna' contact the men in grey suits and tell them 'bout this heavy. See you out back!"

The grunts would never understand their boss' lingo.

* * *

><p>"So! I'm going to teach you fundamental theories of battle, and fundamental theory of ranged attacks." Ariados explained. Gardevoir nodded her head once, eager to listen.<p>

"The fundamental theory of battle is quite simple: To hit your opponent until he/she faints while dodging all of their attacks and healing yourself at the same time." said the spider, "Naturally, there is no possible way to do all of these things at the same time. The goal is to merely get as close to this situation as possible. This is why we often say Thunder is a better move than Thundershock, because it it much more powerful."

"I see…" the green haired psychic nodded her head.

"But what you really need to know are the fundamentals of ranged attacks." Ariados declared, "The goal of being a ranged fighter is to hit your opponent at a distance while at the same time your opponent cannot reach you."

"Alright, that makes sense." Gardevoir shrugged.

"It does, but in practice it is very difficult." Ariados replied "For instance…"

In a split second, Ariados zoomed over to Gardevoir, surprising her and nearly knocking her off balance. "How do you propose to defend against someone who moves very fast? Or even worse- uses illusionary attacks?"

"I…I don't know…" Gardevoir admitted.

"That's what you're here for." Ariados rolled her eyes, "So, let's first work on range. I'm going to move and I want you to use any means necessary to keep me at least ten meters away. Go."

Ariados didn't move at the blinding speed before, but she was still very fast. Gardevoir ran into the forest trying to keep her distance, but Ariados was faster still. Thinking quickly about how she could use any means, she Teleported away somewhere else.

"Good, Teleport works for you psychic types." Ariados was on her trail again. Knowing she couldn't outrun the spider, Gardevoir employed a bit of strategy. She used Teleport several times, going from one location to another, until she flew up a tree a ways off Ariados, hidden from sight.

"There…" Gardevoir huffed, "I did-"

She barely dodged the Iron Thorn aimed at her skull. Ariados looked right at her, and Gardevoir knew she wasn't hidden.

"You have mask your aura!" Ariados yelled, "Otherwise you can still be sensed!"

"This is hard…" the psychic leapt down, seeing as it was useless to keep hiding. Ariados charged after her and she Teleported again.

* * *

><p>"You're going to train us?" Cresselia and Deoxys said at the same time. They had recovered from thier injuries thanks to Celebi.<p>

"Yes, hoho!" Dusknoir said in a jovial manner, "So Dunsparce, how should we train these two young ladies?"

Master Dunsparce stared.

"Hoho! Now that's a good idea!"

"What did he say…?" Cresselia whispered to Deoxys, who shrugged. Dusknoir floated over to them and announced their plan.

"We shall use the same technique that Dunsparce used to train Darkrai." explained the ghost type, "In other words, we're throwing you two into The Pit!"

Before the girls could yell in horror, Dusknoir grabbed them and yanked them down into a deep hole in the ground, where they fell.

**"YAYS! THIS TIME WE GET WOMEN!"bellowed a deep voice.**

**"WOMEN ARE MUCH TASTIER THAN MEN!"**

"AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"

* * *

><p><strong>JUST WHEN WE THOUGHT THE PIT WAS OVER…<strong>

"My Malispite Doom Senses are tingling…" said the brown bat suddenly. He was jolted back to reality by his sister, telling him that they had to find princess Meloetta "Oh gee, looks like I'm right about the troublemaking part."

His sister shot him a glare, then smacked him with her chosen one powers. Meanwhile, the three muskadeers had finally come up with a logical way to find her.

"We shall launch Virizion into atmospheric orbit so that he has a better view of the mountain."

"Discluding the whole 're-entry' thing, and the whole 'no oxygen in the air' thing, we don't have a rocket powerful enough to do that." Gliscor noted, "…or any rocket for that matter."

"Shoot! Back to the drawing board!" Cobalion announced.

"Now hold on a second." the purple bat got their attention. He told them that if an evil organization captured Meloetta, they were probably going to look for other Pokemon to capture too. Therefore, all they needed to do was set up a trap.

"One of us will stay here and call loudly for the bad guys," said Gliscor, "while the others wait from a safe distance. When the bad guys show up to capture the bait, we follow them back to their lair."

"…that's actually a pretty good idea." Gallade admitted, looking at Gliscor's snow diagram. The three deer Pokemon agreed.

"But wait, won't the bait be kind controlled as well?" Malispite pointed out.

"Correct," continued the purple bat, "which is why I suggest Mercifond be used as bait, since her chosen one status renders her immune to mind control."

"My powers can do that…?" the white bat questioned.

"SHE'S THE CHOSEN ONE!?" blared the three muskadeer's in surprise.

"I have to say, this really is a great plan." the fighting psychic congratulated his friend once again.

"Yeah, well… the secret agents made me do a crash course in spy stuff." Gliscor remembered "You know it's odd, they haven't bothered me in a while… I wonder where they are?"

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE WITH THE SECRET AGENTS<strong>

Agent Blaze and agent Raptor were on top of Mt. Coronet.

"Where the crap is agent Purple!?"

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE WITH AGENT PURPLE<strong>

The group had concluded that Gliscor's plan was best, even though Cobalion vouched for his Virizion-orbit plan to the end. So they left Mercifond in the middle of the snowy mountain peak and hid inside a small cavern that Terrakion found. The white and pink colored bat yelled loudly for the bad guys to get her.

After ten minutes of waiting, the ruse paid off. From the blizzard emerged two humans wearing green uniforms.

"What is that sound!?" one of them yelled, "Hey, whoever's doing this-"

They spotted Mercifond, who gazed at them blankly. One of them looked at the other, commenting on how he'd never seen her species before. The second concluded they should capture her for the boss.

They whipped out strange bronze colored gauntlets and placed them on their hands. Palms open, they launched several purple energy rings at Mercifond, who pretended she was under their control. When they assumed she was theirs, they commanded her to follow them, which she obliged.

"Yes, it's working!" Gliscor grinned toothily, "Come on, let's follow them…!"

"Wait…" Gallade looked around suspiciously, "Where's did those fake legendaries go?"

Gliscor turned around and realized that he, Malispite and Gallade were the only ones in the cavern. "What the fric!?"

* * *

><p>"THE CAVERN WAS LIKE TEN FEET IN FRONT OF US!" Virizion yelled.<p>

"HOW THE HELL DID WE GET LOST SO EASILY!?" Terrakion yelled.

"SHUT UP AND HELP ME READ MY MAP!" Cobalion yelled back.

* * *

><p>"Urg…" the purple bat sighed. He noticed that the bad guys were starting to get distant, "We have no time for this, let's tail them!"<p>

The three stealthily tailed Mercifond and her 'captors' a little ways down the mountain. Soon they reached another cave, and in that cave was a steel door hidden by some snow. Brushing off some of it, the captors said something and the steel door unlocked itself. Taking Mercifond inside the door shut itself.

The three men walked and flew over to the door. They tried, but couldn't get it to open.

_'Please say verbal password' _a voice beeped at them.

"Oh shoot, it was password protected!?" Gliscor frowned "Uh… 'Call Me Maybe'?"

_'BEEP. Password incorrect'_

"What about 'Michael Phelps'?" Gallade suggested.

_'BEEP. Password incorrect'_

"Alright, I've got this." Malispite sighed. "I'm going to punch this door down."

_'BEEP. Password incorre-'_

Malispite punched the door down. With a single fist he blew down a meter thick steel door and sent it flying. Gallade and Gliscor were obviously impressed at his sheer strength. "Now let's get this over with…"

They then noticed that the two humans who brought Mercifond in were laying on the ground unconscious. Mercifond herself was squished against the sides of the right wall.

"I WAS ABOUT TO OPEN IT FOR YOU!" she yelled at her brother, who had nearly killed her with a meter thick steel door. Malispite apologized, and all was well again. The group ran down the hallway, where they saw three separate paths with signs on them.

"…do any of you read human?" Malispite asked, not knowing what the signs said.

"Only Japanese." Mercifond shrugged, "These aren't written in Japanese so I don't know what they say…"

"Wait, humans have more than one language?" Malispite widened his eyes.

"Yeah. About 50 or so in the world. You didn't know?"

"Why the heck do they need so many languages!?" the brown bat was confused, "Aren't they all the same species!?"

"Humans are weird like that." Gallade admitted, "But we have bigger problems. Which path is the right one?"

"We'll have to split up." decided Gliscor, "I think we're all strong enough to deal with whatever comes out way."

Malispite went down the rightmost path, Gliscor and Mercifond took the middle, and Gallade took the leftmost. Malispite literally flew straight through, idly hitting any humans with green uniforms as his powerful wings thrust him further downwards. Eventually he reached a door, where he heard several noises, Pokemon cries. Busting that locked door down, he found several cages containing several ice type Pokemon.

"This must be the prison chamber…" he said to himself. Looking around, it was clear that these Pokemon were all out of it, most likely mind controlled for real.

"Crap. Isn't there anything I can do to snap them out of it?" Malispite growled, a snorunt looking at him blankly. Sadly, he knew that the only method of freeing them was through a Ranger capturing them.

"H-Hello?" said a tiny voice. The brown bat turned around, where he saw an iron clad door with a few breathing holes.

"Who's there?" asked the brown bat.

"Meloetta!" the voice said, "The princess of Unova! Oh please, you have to get me out of here!"

"Great." Malispite cracked his knuckles, "Of all the paths to choose, I had to be the one…"

He broke down the door "to meet up with the stupid-"

She was petite, no more than a couple feet tall. Humanoid in shape, she had primarily white skin with an elegant black colored dress, a green sash at her thin waist. On her left was a microphone shaped headpiece that seemed attached to her. The girl had extravagantly beautiful green hair that shone despite the lack of light in her comparatively dim cell. Her eyes were the color of turquoise, and they glimmered at Malispite in awe.

The brown bat stared at this beauty, suddenly finding it very hot in the room. "Y-You're the princess, r-right?"

"Y-Yes." the princess squeaked, also finding it hot in the room with such a tall and handsome boy as her savior. The two turned red in the face, and both suddenly found it very hard to speak.

"S-So, Y-you're the princess?" Malispite asked casually.

"Y-Yes…" she said again, gazing into his green eyes.

"D-Do you w-want to get out of here?" was Malispite's next question.

"Y-Yes, b-but I-I don't know the… way…" she answered.

"T-That's okay!" Malispite tried to smile, "I-I'll escort you!"

"Oh! T-Thank you!" Meloetta gleamed. Nervously, Malispite picked her up and placed her on his shoulder. For safety reasons. And no other possibly motive. Meloetta hung onto his fuzzy neck, and the two departed.

* * *

><p><strong>AH, YOUNG LOVE<strong>

Gallade's path had led him to a direct confrontation with the fearsome boss of the operation. A surfer dude who called himself "Red Eyes". He had sent a powerful typhlosion to defeat Gallade.

Gallade won easily.

"Dude…not… bodacious…" were Red Eyes' last words before he fainted. Gallade slung him over his shoulder. Barlow could interrogate him later. Yay torture!"

* * *

><p><strong>TORTURE SOLVES EVERYTHING<strong>

Elaine, after five whole days, stepped out of the torture chamber. Following her with the light haired boy who Darkrai had captured. The two stepped in front of an expectant Luana and Crawford.

"I'll tell you everything." he said, "I worked… well, used to work for Team Dim Sun."

"Dim Sun… the guys who were in Pueltown!" Luana remembered.

"Yes. They told me they'd be hitting that soon." said the man, "Their next target is the Chroma Ruins!"

"That's where Zero is!" exclaimed Crawford. He then paused. "Oh, so I guess there's no need to worry about that then."

"Team Dim Sun secretly operates all over Almia." explained the man, "They've been doing so for a while now. Their goal is to take over the region via mind controlling Pokemon to do their bidding."

"And I'm guessing they do that using these Gigaremo's?" Crawford pointed to the destroyed red machine, "What can you tell us about them?"

"Did you see a black stone in it?" the brown haired man asked.

"Yes… why?"

"That's what powers them. Dark Shards." said the oil reeking guy, "And that's why they need to get to the Chroma Ruins- to mine more Dark Shards."

"I see…"

"But it's worse than that!" the man said hurriedly, "Their main target isn't the Dark Shards, it's the mother load. What they really want is the biggest Dark Shard in the world-

They want the Shadow Crystal!"

* * *

><p>Hidden in the dead of night stood two individuals, carefully monitoring the activity inside the vein ranger base.<p>

_"UNIT TWO'S SIGNAL HAS BEEN CONFIRMED."_

_"DETECTING TWO LEGENDARIES, POWER LEVEL IS GREATER OURS."_

_"PROBABILITY OF SUCCESSFUL INFILTRATION = 5%."_

_"THEREFORE WE MUST WAIT UNTIL UNIT TWO CAN ESCAPE. WHEN THIS OBJECTIVE IS CLEAR, ACTIVATE PROTOCOL 2-3B._

_ESTIMATED TIME UNTIL REGIGIGAS IS REVIVED: 20 HOURS."_


	10. Xenophobia I

Chapter forty six: Xenophobia (Act one- The Fear)

* * *

><p>There was a bit of a fog as the ship pulled into Pueltown's docks. "Docks" being the relative term since most of them had been all but destroyed.<p>

The fog was not natural, rather it was made from an elaborate fog machine on board the ship. Better to serve as a disguise that way. The thinking worked since the ship was able to dock in the north of Pueltown without anyone noticing.

Some humans came out, scurrying and pulling down a ladder. They checked to see if anyone was around, luckily, there wasn't.

A black and red "R" was painted on its side.

At last, the mysterious men A-OK'ed the surrounding area, and proceeded to very quickly drop off their guest. From the inside of the ship emerged a feline like Pokemon, dark purple in color and having four red eyes.

"Lord Xeno, we'll be leaving you now."

"Logically." the Pokemon floated down "Tell Giovanni I have landed. I shall engage Absolix as soon as I am able."

Oh yes, Absolix was here alright, Xeno could sense it. Of course he hid his aura very well so there was no telling where the man actually was, only that he was close. And southbound.

"This will be logically interesting." Xeno said to himself, the rockets disembarking "Now that I am far stronger than before, repeating my tactics yields me a 76% chance of victory.

Xeno knew it was only a matter of time before those chances reached 100%. He was a cold, calculating machine who knew the odds of everything. His prediction skills were unmatched, and he knew that Absolix would be destroyed.

He knew all possible outcomes, after all.

* * *

><p>"Oh well what do you know… Xeno's here.<p>

Hm. Does he have a problem with Regigigas' revival or something?

And it looks like Absolix is here too…

How odd that those two appear in the same region. Can't be a good sign.

Ah, whatever. I'll sit back and enjoy. It looks like I don't need to do anything… since the traitor will do it all for me…"

* * *

><p>The alarm was nerve wracking. Mewtwo thought it was all a dream, until he realized it was too loud to be a dream. The psycat jolted up instantly and looked at the monitors to see what intruded.<p>

It was the reverse- no one was breaking in. Something was breaking out.

"Where's Regice!?" Mewtwo noticed the empty rope that had previously bound the dead machine. He Teleported to the ground floor outside, where he saw only the alarms. No sign of the key.

_"Mewtwo, what's happening?" _Cresselia demanded telepathically, woken up as well.

_"Regice has escaped." _said Mewtwo_, _"I think it's still inside the building, search for it and bring it down! I'll guard the entrance."__

Clinking was heard behind the psycat. Mewtwo turned around to face a grey colored automaton, and a brown colored automaton as well. Both had seven eyes in different patterns, and both looked like they wanted to fight him.

"…I'll call you back." Mewtwo twirled around, psychic energy in his hands.

_"POWER LEVEL = 235,799 +/- 4,658" _stated the brown one.

_"PRIMARY OBJECTIVE IS TO SECURE UNIT TWO." _stated the grey one. Mewtwo decided to move before they did, psychokinetically shoving them into the ground.

"Fine then! I'll just kill more of you!" he raised his arm to the air, using telekinetic powers to speed up every particle around his fist until it was a maelstrom of pure power "Psyburn!"

The attack scorched everything it touched, the Regi's included. Both were caught up in the insanely powerful attack, and both were destined to die by Mewtwo's hand. That is, until a shield made from pure light blocked his move and spared the two keys.

Mewtwo felt his insanity.

"We meet again, clone."

The psycat flung himself at his mortal enemy, his purple colored fist doing absolutely nothing to the white colored fist that met his own.

"Unfortunately, I can't have you messing up my darling little keys." the white being said. Mewtwo lost all self control, hitting him with everything he had. The blows he dealt would have put craters in mountains, but the fallen angel blocked every single one with ease. The shockwaves alone tore down trees, yet not a single ounce of energy hit the white being. In response, his opponent shot him in the chest with a piercing beam attack, just barely missing his heart.

Mewtwo fell to the floor, blood pouring out of his chest.

"You ought to keep yourself under control. You should have been able to dodge that."

"I…I'll kill you…!" Mewtwo yelled desperately through his coughing up blood "ABSOLIX!"

"You can't kill me." his opponent smiled, "And you never will…"

"ABSOLIX!"

He vanished. He, along with the two keys, and from Cresselia's bewildered look, the third as well. She, Deoxys and Celebi made their way out to their dying friend.

"Shit!" Celebi quickly applied her healing powers to Mewtwo "What the hell happened Mewtwo!?"

"Ab…Absolix…!"

Celebi narrowed her eyes, a bead of sweat dripping down her forehead "So… he was the one who teleported Regice…"

"Kill him…" mumbled Mewtwo, Deoxys trying her best to heal him. Suddenly, Mewtwo found Absolix. He had teleported inside the Ranger Base, his aura was clear. The psycat leapt up despite his injuries and used a powerful psychic on the building.

"Mewtwo, what are you doing!?" Celebi screamed, the psycat shoving her aside.

"DIIIIEEEE!" screamed Mewtwo through the blood. His Psychic utterly ripped the house to shreds, the building fell in a matter of seconds, leaving nothing except two stunned humans and a green haired girl who Protected them.

Mewtwo stared at Gardevoir, unable to comprehend. Absolix was right there. Right where Gardevoir stood. Why was he not there?

Before he could finish his thought, the injury caught up to him and he fell down. Mewtwo fainted being wide eyed with confusion.

He was losing it.

* * *

><p>Morning came eventually; and with the sun up they could move.<p>

"And that's what happened." Celebi explained, "Mewtwo is out of comission, probably for at least three days."

"Attacked by Absolix… so he's here in Almia…" Arceus was worried. Celebi however, narrowed her eyes and looked down. She told Arceus that Absolix was not in Almia. It was worse than that.

"We checked the surveillance camera's." Crawford said, "…you might want to take a look at this."

The video showed Arceus what occurred last night- outside, two of the Regi's ganged up on Mewtwo, but the psycat held them off well. That is, until five minutes infighting when Mewtwo let out a heartbreaking gasp. He stared at absolutely nothing and yelled "Absolix".

Mewtwo then proceeded to fight with himself, allowing the confused Regi's to teleport their ice type friend out of there. Despite them being long gone, Mewtwo exchanged blows with an imaginary Absolix, wrecking the landscape in the process.. When the others came to investigate, Mewtwo screamed for Absolix again and blew apart almost all the Ranger Base.

"No…" Arceus widened her eyes. Celebi was right- Absolix wasn't in Almia. Mewtwo had somehow conjured it up in his mind, apparently 'sensing' him.

"His insanity has grown, Arceus…" Celebi stated bluntly, "and when he wakes up I don't know if I'll be able to stop him."

"Arceus, I can stay and heal Mewtwo." Deoxys said immediately, "All he needs is some rest! A-After that he'll be fine!"

"You let me worry about Mewtwo." Arceus replied, "For now, we have a much bigger concern: the fact that Regice, Regirock and Registeel have found each other. Meaning it's only a matter of time before Regigigas reawakens."

Cresselia and the rest of Calestia became nervous. Regigigas was supposed to be an extremely powerful class Five with strength great enough to move entire islands with ease, perhaps even entire countries.

"I don't need to tell you that it would be disastrous if he awakens." the Legendary Council leader said, "You all will need to go to them. They are headed for the Hippowdon Temple, that is where Regigigas' body is sealed."

Continuing, Arceus instructed them on how to defeat the Regi's: "His body may be there, but his mind was split into three separate parts- the Regi's. When the Regi's locate the body, they will begin uploading themselves into Regigigas. During this time they will be completely helpless- that is you chance for you to strike.

Kill one of them, and the process will not occur. I realize they are all very strong, so Celebi, I'm counting on you to deliver the final blow."

The grass pixie nodded her head gravely, her head in deep thought. "And you're sure you can't contact either Victini or Darkrai?" Arceus added.

The purple swan shook her head sideways. "Very well… I'll try and send Ho-oh your way. Just deal with destroying the Regi's as soon as possible.

…Which brings up the question: how exactly did Regice walk away? Didn't Mewtwo kill it like I asked?"

"…unfortunately we don't know what happened." Celebi answered, "Yes Mewtwo killed it, but it seemed perfectly fine when it attacked us last night."

"I see…" Arceus' hologram sighed. She looked at her child, Cresselia "I'm sorry to be doing this to you…"

"It's no problem mom. We'll win." Cresselia said back "We'll succeed, I promise you."

"I'll tell the situation at the other end." were the divine being's last words before vanishing.

"Alright." Cresselia shot her fellow members a look of sheer determination. She turned to Gardevoir, Deoxys and Cresselia and said to them "Let's move."

* * *

><p>"Well that was easy." Gallade said to himself. He had defeated the leader of the gang, Red Eyes, in no time at all. Notably, Red Eyes used a typhlosion on him, now fainted lying next to Red Eyes. Gallade used all his power and defeated it in one hit. He was much, much stronger now. This could only mean one thing.<p>

"GARDEVOIR WILL TOTALLY FALL FOR ME!"

He saw no sign of the Unova princess, so the fighting psychic ran back where he met up with Mercifond and Gliscor. They told him their way was a boring dead end. Gallade told them his side of the story, how he defeated their leader Red Eyes, which he slung on his shoulder.

"So if you beat the leader…" Gliscor said, "Then where's the princess?"

Hesitantly, all three turned to the last corner, where Malispite had gone. Their last member had vanished down this corner, an uneasy sense of dread fell upon them as they gazed into the abysmally dark hallway.

That is, until a flustered brown bat arrived safely with the princess in his arms. Malispite gently let Meloetta down, and two flustered teens cleared their throats.

"S-So, I found the princess." the brown bat stated, trying to remain calm.

"Princess Meloetta, I sincerely apologize for any comments my brother made about stereotyping royalty." Mercifond glared at her twin. However, Meloetta found him to be quite the gentleman, and he did not make any rude comments at all.

While Gallade and Gliscor passed this off nonchalantly, Mercifond knew that there was something clearly wrong with this picture. Malispite, who never let grudges go, suddenly found himself being nice to his supposed enemy? Moreover, the fact that Meloetta referred to him as a gentleman was suspicious. Her twin brother was no gentleman.

She pulled Gliscor over "Hey, yor a secret agent right?!"

"So Blaze and Raptor tell me…" Gliscor sighed.

"What possible reason could have made the princess assume my brother is a gentleman?" she asked, confusing secret agents with detectives. Gliscor was nonetheless willing to give it a shot while Gallade introduced himself.

He gazed at the green haired princess, noting how her eyes drifted to Malispite every so often. He gazed at Malispite, who refused to outright look at the green haired girl yet was very red in the face.

"There can only be one logical conclusion." Gliscor narrowed his eyes "Malispite is allergic to the princess."

"…" Mercifond said, "…Holy crap that makes perfect sense!"

Yet, despite Malispite's allergic reaction, they would have to continue on. Now that they had Meloetta, and Gallade had Red Eyes, they could exit the building and find the three deer 'legendaries'.

"Where did they go off to this time?" sighed the green haired princess.

"No one knows." Gliscor said. He cocked his ear, "Wait. I hear something…"

There was a loud internal 'BOOM'. A part of the ceiling crashed down, followed by three tumbling deer shaped figures who, despite their awkward entrance, managed to look dignified somehow.

"Aha! We found you guys again." said Cobalion, lowering his horns in a bow. He spotted the princess, and the three were overjoyed that she had been returned to them. They congratulated Calestia, and Meloetta returned to riding atop Cobalions' neck.

"We truly thank you for righting our brother's blunder." said Virizion.

"Yeah Terrakion, nice job." Cobalion added.

"HE MEANT YOU YA' DUMBASS!"

"A happy ending for everybody!" Gallade smiled. Red Eyes, still only halfway conscious, moaned "not for me…" but Gallade smacked him back into dreamland. "Nothing could possibly ruin this moment!"

And then Arceus appeared saying "THE END OF THE WORLD IS UPON US!"

Calestia: "FRIC NOT AGAIN!"

"We don't have much time so I'll explain this as fast as possible!" said Arceus, "Here it goes: Mewtwo was insane so the keys broke free and one of them revived so now they'll resurrect Regigigas!"

Calestia: "…"

"And thus, I'm sending you all to Almia." concluded the white equine. The three Muskadeer brothers and Meloetta stepped forth, demanding to know what they should do. "Oh you guys are here? Great! You can help us prevent the end of the world!"

"WE SHALL NOT FAIL! OR GET LOST!" shouted Cobalion with pride. Gliscor and Malispite simply sighed, knowing the second one would be fulfilled anyway.

"But how can you get us there in time?" Mercifond questioned, "It's a three day journey, and it would take a ridiculous amount of energy to teleport us there- if anyone of us could even teleport!"

"For that I have good news and I have bad news." Arceus said to them.

"What's the good news?"

"I've found someone who can teleport you all to Almia." said God.

"What's the bad news?"

"It's Anarchaoss."

Before Mercifond could curse her luck, a yellow portal opened up and a sphere like object was shot through the ground. If unfolded itself to reveal the long haired steel type with heterochromia.

"Hello everyone!" he said cheerfully.

"Fric, not this guy…" growled Malispite. He marched up to him and snarled "Hey! If you even THINK about hitting on my sister-"

"You'll activate Demon's Offence, beat me to a pulp, turn that pulp into pulpier pulp, chuck my remains off the cliff, launch a Zap Cannon at me then bury me under Mt. Sorbet!" grinned the man.

Malispite paused, dumbfounded "…how did you know what I was about to say…?"

"I am a being of pure chaos! I know everything in the universe, but I only get bits and pieces of it because my brain is too small! FORTY TWO!" he shouted that last part.

"…" Virizion noted.

"…these guys have weird friends…" Terrakion said to his green colored brother.

"Anarchaoss, warp them to Almia!" declared Arceus.

"Can do Joe!" Anarchaoss nodded, "But the stone pillar will collapse at any minute, even if we nail it to the ground!"

A pause.

"Alright let's do this!" using his strange powers, Anarchaoss summoned a yellow wormhole. As opposed to teleporting, the steel type had the ability to create wormholes, which were points in space interlinked, thereby reducing the distance between anything to almost zero.

"Cannonball in!" Anarchaoss shouted, transforming into his spherical form and tumbling into it. Calestia soon followed him, along with the three muskadeers, who, shrugging, cannonballed in as well.

"Godspeed Calestia." nodded Arceus' hologram "…wait… I am God… Uh… Myspeed Calestia!"

* * *

><p>Zero looked around. He was surrounded by Dim Sun grunts, who all had powerful skarmory by the side. There were at least a dozen of them, probably more.<p>

"We have you surrounded, Zero!" announced their admin, "We can't let you get into the Chroma Ruins, because we need the Shadow Crystal! So… we're going to attack you all at once, and soon reinforcements will arrive with even stronger Pokemon!

What do you say to that!?"

Zero of course, said the only natural response to such a thing: "YESSSSSSSS!"

* * *

><p>Calestia was only an hour away from the Hippowdon Temple. The Rangers, in an effort to conserve energy, summoned a speedboat and rode to the Haruba Village, access to the desert which contained the temple.<p>

Their numbers were few: Gardevoir, Cresselia, Deoxys and Celebi were the only ones left to take care of Regigigas before he awoke.

"Regigigas is a class Five legendary," Celebi was filling them in on the details, "Hypothetically, he is even stronger than Arceus right now. He was born during the time of Arceus' great grandfather, Arkaeon. He was stronger than anything else at the time, but luckily her ancestor sealed him away with the help of humans.

These humans created three keys out of Regigigas' essense, effectively splitting his mind into three separate pieces, placing them in golems. The problem arose when the three separate pieces wanted to naturally recombine, so the three keys were sealed away as well."

"So… he's a class Five…" said Deoxys, thinking, "What specific abilities does he have?"

"He is a normal type according to the humans from back then." Celebi said, "His special ability… is merely raw power."

"Raw power?"

"He can punch a mountain and it will crumble." Celebi stated blandly "He can kick the ground and cause earthquakes that can devastate and entire city. Worse still, almost nothing can come close to damaging him."

Cresselia widened her eyes "I… can see why mother fears him so much."

"Indeed…" Celebi murmured, gazing at an approaching island "Actually, I think the worst part is that he can't be reasoned with. He is a force of pure destruction, with no thinking ability whatsoever. At least Absolix has method to his destruction… Regigigas will destroy for no reason."

The three women gazed at each other. They had to stop this thing no matter what.

"Land Ho!" shouted Crawford, spinning the boat into the docks of the desert. Without wasting time on the village, He pointed the women to the direction of the desert. Crawford and Luana would be no use against three powerful keys, so they had to stay behind "Good luck!"

"Let's hurry!" Celebi commanded.

The four ran out the village and into the desert. No Pokemon were present, they were all hiding from the three scary Pokemon from before. The desert was not a long one, for soon the Hippowdon Temple became visible.

Like the pyramids of old, It a was sandy colored edifice that spanned many miles underground, its entrance being in the shape of a hippowdon. Wasting no time, as the entrance had been done it by a metal hand, the four of them journeyed inside.

The inside was spacious, door after door, hallway after hallway as Celebi led them further and further inwards. Finally, she told them to stop at a three way pass.

Many doors lay in front of them, one in front and two to either side. They all had dots on them represent the eyes of each of the three Regi's. Each door was open.

"This is it." Celebi said to them, "These doors don't open unless they sense the presence of the Regi's. Each of them has taken a separate path." she turned back "Alright listen to me, the best strategy would be to split up so that we can take them all on at the same time.

Luckily I can sense which paths are the ones the Regi's took.

Cresselia, you go down the second path Regirock has taken. Gardevoir, Go with the third for Registeel. Deoxys and I will take down Regice, the seventh path."

"Alright, but after were done, where do these paths lead?" Cresselia questioned.

"They all lead to the same place:" Celebi narrowed her eyes "to the room where Regigigas' body is stored."

Without another word, they female members split up. Gardevoir ran down the second path, Cresselia to the third, Celebi and Deoxys in the seventh. It was do or die time- either they got to the Regi's before they awakened their master, or another great monster would be set loose upon the world.

* * *

><p><strong>Cascade City<strong>

"Oho?" Absolix eyed a computer screen.

_"Dear Absolix,_

_Regigigas will awaken at the Hippowdon Temple. Be there._

_Sincerely,_

_Clear Bell_

"Oh my." Absolix smiled, "We get to see my dear friend Giga so early? What luck…and finally I can meet this 'Clear Bell' person. Well, I had better leave then."

"Leave where?"

He turned behind him, where he saw Mewthree. She was breathing heavily, with scratched and bruises all over he pink fur coat. A bit of blood was on her arm. "You have to train me, remember?"

"My dear girl…" Absolix sighed, "I can't possibly train someone who can't even defeat a bar of soap."

"I've beaten it."

Absolix blinked. "…Hm?"

"I've beaten it." Mewthree said proudly, "If you want proof, its remains are over there." she pointed vaguely in the distance.

"Oh my. Well, congratulations for defeating a common household cleaning item. Truly this is a remarkable accomplishment." he said sarcastically.

Mewthree stared angrily at him. He always knew what to say to make her mad.

"Well then, I suppose we'll have to move on to the next phase won't we?" Absolix said, "but for now, I have to leave. You should come with me, you'll see something interesting."

"NO." said the psycat, "I'm injured enough as it is, and every time we go somewhere something bad happens!"

Absolix instantly healed Mewthree's wounds with a snap of his fingers. Mewthree paused "…and every time we go somewhere something bad happens!"

"Oh come now, where's your sense of adventure?" Absolix created a warp portal "IT WILL BE FUN. TRUST ME."

"NOT WHEN YOU MAKE THAT CREEPY FACE!"

However Absolix had enough of this nonsense, so he grabbed Mewthree by the arm and threw her into the portal as she screamed bloody murder against him.

"Honestly, what a troublesome child…" he declared. The man created another portal and stepped through it.

Mewthree, screaming bloody murder, was thrown into a pit of sand. Coughing up some sand that had gotten in her mouth, she glared with sheer rage as Absolix lightly stepped onto the sand pit. The female psycat stood back up and shouted that she wanted no part of whatever crazy mission Absolix had to offer.

"Oh?"

"That's right! I'm going back home right now!" she said.

"Oh?" Absolix questioned, "Why Mewthree, I had no idea you knew how to get past Inori's dimensional coding to get into Cascade City."

Mewthree paused, realizing that Absolix was her only way back in.

"I hate you."

"Join the club. I'm going to find the Hippowdon Temple, join me if you wish." Absolix walked calmly to a Cliffside in the desert. Mewthree sighed and vowed to redouble her study on dimensional coordinates the next time she got back. Reluctantly, she joined him.

"Wait…" Mewthree suddenly said, "I sense someone…"

"Wild Pokemon are everywhere." Absolix acknowledged.

"No it's not that…" said Mewthree, looking around. She gasped "It's… it's Xeno…!"

The white being frowned. Whenever Xeno showed up, it only meant trouble. Sure enough, Absolix could also sense him once he tried. Mewthree announced she was going to track down Xeno, and Absolix merely let her do as she wanted.

"Fine fine, I'll be at the Temple if you need me." he warped a short distance to the temple, and as he walked inside, wondered why Xeno was here.

* * *

><p>Mewtwo awoke. The first thing he noticed was that there were bandages on his head. The second was the insurmountable amount of failure he felt.<p>

Absolix was stronger than him still. Even after his improvement, he utterly lost. Mewtwo knew how to calculate. He finally faced the sad truth: there was no possible way for him to defeat Absolix. No possible way to curb his insanity.

No way to become real.

Mewtwo grieved. His tears stained his bandages. He gripped himself with such force that his wrist hurt. He tried to cry, but not a sound was uttered.

No way to become real.

His artificial existence meant nothing. When Mewtwo came to terms with this inconvenient truth, he sat upright and solemnly stared out the window. After a few seconds, Mewtwo realized what had to be done.

He Teleported.

* * *

><p>Cresselia flew down the path destined to take her to where Regirock lay. So far it was nothing but tunnel after tunnel, dimly lit by glowing blue crystals. Personally, she would have had all of them go after a single Regi, since they needed to incapacitate one in order to stop the process, but Celebi probably knew more than her about the keys so she must have had some reason for splitting them up.<p>

The swan couldn't help but note that things were pretty boring in the tunnels, nothing but dirt and glowing rocks. She had already been at this for ten minutes, and had seen high nor tail of Regirock.

And then, suddenly, she sense something. A sinister aura was ahead. Cresselia slowed down, pacing herself until the image became clear.

There, standing in the middle of the hallway, was Suicune.

"Suicune? What are you doing here?" said the swan, genuinely surprised.

"Arceus sent me for more backup." she curtly replied, "She says Regi-"

There was a pause, as Suicune looked more carefully at Cresselia. She paced back and forth on her paws, looking at the swan from all angles. "Is… there something wrong, Suicune?" asked the swan.

The water beast gasped. Going back into the middle of the hallway, she looked at Cresselia one more time.

An unearthly grin formed upon her jowls.

"Oh my! I never expected to see you again!" said Suicune, "What are the odds, really?"

"S-Suicune!?" Cresselia took a step back, something obviously not right.

"What's the matter dear? Don't recognize me?" the crazy version of Suicune grinned, "Maybe this will help…"

And then Suicune's body disappeared, replaced by another. What stood in front of Cresselia was a bipedal led figure, with large red hair, blackish grey skin, and piercing green eyes. He smiled with his long jaw, ears tensing and tail swishing from behind, giving him a foxlike appearance.

Cresselia lost all sense of control. The utter, overwhelming fear took over.

"Remember me now?" smiled Zoroark.

* * *

><p>Gardevoir had found it.<p>

It was a large, steel colored Pokemon that towered over her. Its body was primarily round, with two stubby legs and two slender arms that ended in human like fingers. It had seven red dots arranged in a circle on its black colored 'face'.

Registeel.

As soon as it sense her presence, it stopped in its tracks and eyed her, determining whether or not she was a threat.

Gardevoir was sweating- after all she had just been taken down by this things 'brother', and that was when she had both Cresselia and Deoxys to back her up. Now she was alone, facing an iron monstrosity.

"I-I'm here to stop you!" Gardevoir yelled at it, though the speech was really more to motivate her than to intimidate the machine.

_"THREAT DETECTED. POWER LEVEL = 27,910 +/- 391." _it stated. Gardevoir blinked, her power level was that high?_ _"ODDS OF SUCCESS: 99.987299%. ENGAGING IN BATTLE."__

Gardevoir stepped backwards and launched a Psychic, which hit the steel type but did little to not damage. It charged up a flash cannon in its arms and fired it at her, luckily she Teleported out of the way.

However when she landed, the thing was already on her. _"SUPERPOWER" _it slammed down with enough force to cause tremors, just barely missing the green haired psychic type. It didn't let up and smacked her across the room, where she used another Psychic, followed by a Thunderbolt. It absorbed both and hit her back with a Metal Claw.

Scratches in her side, Gardevoir wondered if she could really win this fight.

* * *

><p>He had taken the first path in trying to find Absolix. He didn't really know where Absolix was, only the general direction. However the man apparently sense him coming because now his aura vanished completely.<p>

"How logically troublesome…"

Xeno was now stuck in an empty hallway, destroying whatever feeble traps tried to kill him. He walked along the path trying to think of a way to draw Absolix in the open again. If Xeno was correct, then Absolix just might die this day, if not then by next time for certain.

"Hm…" said Xeno, murmuring to himself "If I were Absolix, what would I logically do at this logical time?"

Xeno sensed movement behind him. He tensed, twirling his brown colored cape until he came face to face with someone he actually didn't expect.

"Hello… Xeno is it?"

Xeno stared at this man carefully "…I know of you…" said Xeno after a bit, "You are the previous logical clone of Mew and Absolix, the first one that succeeded…

Mewtwo."

Mewtwo nodded his head. His bandages were still wrapped around him, but despite his injuries here he was.

"My my…" Xeno marveled at this relic from the past, "So this was what the original design looked like.."

"Indeed. Or rather, the one that lived first." Mewtwo noted.

"Hm… what is your intention, Mewtwo?" Xeno had to ask, "Being a sort of 'older brother' in respect to myself, I would prefer not to destroy you. Logically, if you're intentions are hostile, then must." Xeno said carefully.

"I assume you did not illogically come here for nothing. What is it you desire from me?" asked the purple colored Pokemon.

Mewtwo stared at Xeno, who just now realized how broken his predecessor looked. The psycat gazed downwards, as if filled with regret. Finally, after some silence, Mewtwo looked back up at Xeno.

And he did what must be done.


	11. Xenophobia II

Chapter forty seven: Xenophobia (Act two- Darkness in the Heart)

* * *

><p><em>PREVIOUSLY ON SEXXY DOCTOR REALITY TV SHOW GIG:<em>

Gardevoir: "We have to save this man's life!"

Gallade: "I know we're in the middle of surgery and whatnot but… I LOVE YOU!"

Darkrai: "But wait! I love you too! ACK MY SPLEEN!"

Gardevoir: "Oh noes! What should I do!?"

Mercifond: "It's time I told you the truth, brother."

Malispite: "What is it sis!? TELL ME!"

Mercifond: "I'm pregnant."

Malispite: "Noes!"

Mercifond: "With Anarchaoss' child."

Malispite: "NUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-"

Darkrai: "My terminal cancer is becoming critically terminal. My career as a sexy doctor is over… how ironic that I die due to medical reasons…"

Cresselia: "No! Don't give up hope!"

Darkrai: "Too late babe. I already see the light…"

Xeno: "Mewthree, you know we cannot logically be together."

Mewthree: "OH SHUT UP AND KISS ME YOU DARN FOOL!"

*smooching noises*

Absolix: "Xeno is only using Mewthree to promote himself. She will be heartbroken once this is over…

But is it really my business to tell her…?"

_AND NOW THE STUNNINGLY PREDICTABLE CONCLUSION:_

* * *

><p>A man stood gazing west. He was a tall man with snow white hair, wrinkles all over his face. He wore suit that was black and white in color, with a white hat on his head. He stood silently, facing that which he could not see, but still felt malice for.<p>

It had been one month. One long, grueling month. He could wait no more, a month should have been all it took. One month, and then he killed Arceus, Absolix, and anyone else who stood in his way.

Below he could hear the people chatting about. Only the elite were allowed in the central area of Sapien City, the top brass who paid loads of money to get in. They walked and talked loudly in this Pokemon free environment, no care in the world.

He wanted to see a world like that. A world with only humans. But apparently such a wish was not granted, for it had already been a month and yet no one had told him stage four was achieved.

Yet, as if on cue, a scientist knocked on the door and came in from his own accord. This brown haired man was the chief of the department.

"General White, sir." he addressed the man.

"You had better have good news." stated the elderly man calmly. The scientist paused, but was relatively unwavered.

"We are sorry for the delay sir. The orb proved more difficult to handle than we thought. No one had time to tell you what was going on."

"Why is this?"

"Because there were several moments when we could have blown up this entire city. Well, about two or three sectors, anyway." said the man "But I've not come to tell you of our failures and accidents, General. I come to bring you good tidings.

The worst is over and we have achieved stage three. ETA for stage four is less than a week. After that, we begin applying it as per your instructions."

This was indeed good news. True they did not meet their deadline, but General White supposed he could wait another week before the militarization began. "Fine. Tell me when you have reached stage four."

"Will do, sir." just then, another man arrived on the scene. He was a black haired man with a purple tuxedo, a red "R" on the left side of his chest.

"New intelligence." the man said, the scientist also paying attention "Two things: first is that Xeno is in Almia. Second is that, unexpectedly, someone is trying to revive Regigigas."

"Oh my, the giant who was said to have enough power to move continents?" asked the brown haired research chief. The Rocket nodded once.

"Regardless of its power, once we reach stage five it will simply be one more target to be eliminated." sighed the elderly man, "Tell Giovanni not to get too cocky, I don't care what happens to that abomination but if it leads back to us then we're in trouble."

"Funny how you call the worlds strongest weapon an abomination." the Rocket admin smiled "Not that we're thinking of betraying you, but you should watch your mouth when concerning Rocket affairs. Xeno is only getting stronger, already he is almost a class Four."

The admin assumed his stance was threatening. Yet the elderly man, for the first time, faced him and looked at him with his cold black eyes.

"We have Gin Takamura. Don't ever forget that."

"Oh I doubt he could take Xeno on."

"Is that so?" the scientist interjected "Remember that Angel that went berserk? Gin destroyed it."

"I know that-"

_"With one punch."_

The Rocket admin stopped smiling "…what?"

"You heard me." said the man, "Scary part is, he didn't even use his powers. Just raw, physical strength."

The admin was truly shocked at this news. Gin managed to defeat the equivalent of a class four in a single punch!?

"We have our own research department, yes." the scientist added.

"In actuality, I could order Gin anytime to kill Arceus." said General White, resuming facing west.

"Then why haven't you!?" questioned the Rocket admin. General white gazed back at him.

"That should be obvious," he replied "because I want to do it myself."

* * *

><p>A steel ball came out of a portal, followed by several teenage Pokemon and three cannonballing deer. The teenaged Pokemon slowly go up one after another, having landed back in Almia where their mission first started. For the time being, Malispite, Mercifond, Gliscor and Gallade were back to stop a potential crisis.<p>

And, as it happened, they had four allies this time: three muskadeers and a princess of Unova.

"He was right, the cannonball idea was fun!" Terrakion grinned to Virizion, who grinned back.

The steel ball unfolded itself to the upright humanoid steel type Anarchaoss, who grinned at the two of them, seeing how he was right all along.

"Alright! Passengers, we have arrived in Almia! The pilot has turned off the no smoking signal so feel free to chuck a softball out the windows!" said the mad man. Calestia simply stared, having gotten somewhat used to it by now.

"Let's get this over with." said Mercifond, impatient "We need to hurry up so we can find Kairi."

"Oh no, you can't do that." Anarchaoss smiled, "Kairi can't see anyone right now."

There was a pause within the group. Just as Calestia started to leave, they just as quickly turned around to face Anarchaoss. The steel type still smiled at them, obviously knowing more than they knew.

"Wait… do you know… what happened to her?" Gliscor asked hesitantly.

"Course I do!" said the steel type, "I'm the one who sent her through the portal!"

Gallade grabbed Anarchaoss by the neck faster than the human eye could track. Gallade found his cold metal body impossible to strangle, but he held on anyway "Where is she!? What did you do to her!?"

"In order:" grinned Anarchaoss, "I can't tell you, I sent her to another place, and yes _Queso_is the password."

"Enough of your randomness! Where?!" Malispite growled, positioning himself next to Gallade.

"First of all, it's really not smart to threaten someone fifty times more powerful than you." And just like that, Anarchaoss escaped via portal and wound up next to Gallade "Secondly, Kairi needed to be sent to 'that place'…"

"…what do you mean?" Gliscor asked, trying to reason with him.

"You think Kairi is a normal human? You all seriously haven't noticed?" Anarchaoss frowned. Calestia looked at him in a confused manner, prompting the steel type to sigh.

"Wow. You guys must suck at energy readings… Anyway, no one can see Kairi right now. She has a destiny to fulfill, she must do that which she must do, and until then, no one should see the human."

"A destiny…?" Malispite questioned.

"You'll see her after she does what she needs to do." smiled the strange man, "But until then… so long and thanks for all the fish." the steel type vanished into a portal, laughing.

Calestia and the Unovan legendaries were left in silence. Anarchaoss said that Kairi had to do something before she saw them again… but what did that really mean? Not even the princess of Unova, Meloetta, could say for certain.

"But… Kairi's tough for a human." reasoned Malispite, "So I'm sure she'll do whatever that moron says she needs to…"

"My brother's right." Mercifond smiled, then looked into the direction of the Haruba Desert, the site of Regigigas "So in the meantime, let's complete this mission."

"It should be pretty easy now that we actually have reinforcements." Gliscor rolled his eyes, looking at the three Muskadeers. Who suddenly weren't there at all.

"HOW BAD AT DIRECTIONS ARE THESE PEOPLE!?" blared the white bat. Meloetta gasped, without her bodyguards, she could very well be in trouble due to the current dangerous situation. Just then however, Malispite stood over her.

"Well since you're bodyguards are um… missing… I guess I have no choice but to guard you myself." the brown bat said, head turned away to appear reluctant. Meloetta smiled and blushed at this new development, which only made the brown bat turn even further away "A-Anyway we should be going!" he hurriedly flew to the desert.

Mercifond noticed this whole ordeal and found herself confused. Why would Malispite, who was clearly allergic to Meloetta, offer to protect her? It seemed counterintuitive.

"Keep your eyes peeled, Gliscor." Mercifond warned, "Something more is going on here…"

* * *

><p>"Ah, love!" sighed Absolix, floating above the ground, invisible . He could feel several power levels entering the temple, but two such interested him: That of Mewthree's and Xeno's. Remarkably, Mewthree was heading down the same path as Xeno had without even trying.<p>

"Ah, my young disciple." Absolix laughed, sipping some tea, "Whatever shall I do with her, chasing after that Xeno as such? Ah, best let her do as she pleases I suppose."

Absolix gazed left, where a giant chained figure sat. It a giant sized Pokemon, measuring over 5 meters tall, bigger than a large house. It was a white humanoid, with gold rings on its arms and legs and a golden 'head' with seven blank dots that served as its eyes. The creature was covered in moss and black stripes.

"Oh, Giga." Absolix smiled, "Soon my friend, soon you shall be free."

One of the keys was already present. It was the rock type key, Regirock. It was standing on a dais next to the chained Regigigas not moving at all. It waiting, waiting for the other two, for all three needed to be present to perform the ritual.

Absolix sipped more of his tea "Funny, I thought I sensed Mewtwo in here, but I can't now. I wonder if I was mistaken?"

He stared back at Regirock, "And it appears as though my dear Gardevoir has found the second key. Hmhmm…I wonder if she can win though?"

Said psychic type was up against the most fearsome opponent of her life thus far. Registeel took little to no damage from her attacks, yet Gardevoir could be dealt with in two, maybe even one hit from the thing. It was only by her previous dodging training did she manage to overcome most of what it threw at her.

_"ZAP CANNON." _a giant ball of electricity zoomed towards her, the green haired girl dodging by a hairs width. Unfortunately three Flash Cannons soon followed up, and Gardevoir was forced to use Light Screen to shield herself from damage.

"Psychic!" Gardevoir shouted the one attacking move she knew, it hit but did nothing against the metal monstrosity.

The machine, after doing some calculations, found the easiest way to defeat her. _"LOCK ON"_ it said, aiming at her internal energy for a certain hit. Gardevoir saw what was happening: the same combination that knocked out Deoxys _"ZAP CANN-"_

But Gardevoir used a Thunder Wave attack to paralyze the beast, and being a machine it was much more vulnerable to paralysis than a living creature. The thing garbled random spouts of information while Gardevoir, seeing her opportunity, took a chance and struck with all her power, knocking it clear back.

The steel type crashed into a wall with so much force that the red lights on its head went black. It limped to the ground, its movement ceased.

"I… I did it…" said the female psychic "I did it! I stopped one of the keys!"

Registeel awoke and slammed into her with a Metal Claw attack with twice as much force as Gardevoir used. The girl bled from the slash, but it came again and slashed her, not even her Relfect move could stop it. Slashed twice by Metal Claw, Registeel built up a powerful Shock Wave attack and jolted her body with a forceful electric burst.

It was far too much for her to take, she went down without hesitation. Confirming her loss, the machine sped away. That is, until it was hit by a Thunder Wave and fell to the ground as well.

"N-Not…!" Gardevoir clenched her teeth, trying to move despite the fact that she broke a few bones and was in agonizing pain "Won't let… you…!"

_"LOCK ON" _said the machine mechanically. Gardevoir gasped, trying to summon a shield but only managing some glowing mist. She tried again and again while the thing built up electrical power beyond belief. Moaning and graoning against the pain, she tried to do something, anything to stop him, but her paralysis was too weak this time; it was over.

_"ZAP CANNON."_

The psychic's life flashed before her eyes. The energy sphere was so close she could feel the crackling of electricity on her face. She was going to die here. Regigigas would be awakened and he would-

A picture of Darkrai.

_"No."_

He was still in training. He had no idea.

_"No…!"_

Regigigas would kill him. Would kill him. Kill.

_"NO!_

The impact was immense, blowing up a section of the cavern and almost causing a cave in. Registeel looked at the impact site, seeing nothing but charred remains of the ground. The last thing it said before it was killed was _"ERROR."_

Gardevoir smashed it and sliced it into pieces with light powers. The steel type was spilt in two, this time its light turned off permanently. Standing above it was the white dressed psychic, now with concentric blue eyes, and yellow patches of hair on her ends.

"Kill…" she murmured "Must… must…"

But somehow, Gardevoir snapped herself out of it. As soon as she realized what she had done, guilt took her over. She had used the unknown light power again, and nearly lost herself. Gardevoir could hardly remember the first time she was berserk but she remembered hearing screams of pain from her friends, Absolix laughing…

And now she did it again.

A pool of water caught her eye, or rather, her reflection did. The ends of her hair had become even more yellow and visible than before.

"What am I…?" Gardevoir honestly wondered "What… am…"

Her parents had been killed when she was a young child. She was the oldest sister in a family of three. Why did she know light moves, which only light type Pokemon could learn? Why did she turn in a killing machine whenever she used them, unconsciously or otherwise?

The yellow strands of hair stared back at her, refusing to yield answers, possibly because they were more terrifying than she could imagine.

But then, she felt the surge of power. "No!" she cried, clutching her chest. The power came forth until it burst from her entire body, enveloping her in a halo of blue.

Silently, Gardevoir stood still. Then, carefully, she opened her concentric blue eyes and murmured "Kill."

Gardevoir continued along the path.

* * *

><p>"Well, we lost them." murmured Virizion, who shifted his head to avoid the sandstorm.<p>

"Yeah, Cobalion said something about 'Let's go this way!' and now here we are, lost again." Terrakion replied "Why do we automatically follow him!?"

"Because I'm the oldest!" Cobalion said, "Now then, though our situation seems dire, we can ask for directions!"

"Where, pray tell, we're in the middle of a desert!" Virizion said sarcastically.

"HMM…" Cobalion thought. He looked left. He looked right. The blue deer saw a massive temple in the shape of a hippowdon.

"Oh, that way!" smiled the eldest muskadeer, "We'll surely find someone in there who can tell us where the Hippowdown Temple is!"

"Eh, fair enough…" grumbled the fighting rock type, who chased after Cobalion leaping away. Soon the three muskadeers' had made their way into the temple and bound off down the hallway until they came across the eight path fork in the road.

"Great, now what? Which way's to the information desk?" Terrakion asked. His older brother thought a little bit. Carefully, he examined each of the eight paths, but paused at the seventh path, looking at it more closely.

"I sense a power level from this one." he stated, "So this one is our best bet."

He bounded off, and his two brothers followed. In minutes, they found something. Or rather, someone. She was a red and blue Pokemon, vaguely humanoid in shape, lying on the ground.

The three went over to investigate. There was an apparent bruise on the back of her head, possibly the source of why she lay unconscious. "Doesn't she look like a Ribonian…?" Terrakion noted.

"Don't be silly, Terrakion." said his green colored brother "Ribonians are our mortal enemies, why would one be here?

And besides, look!" he nudged in the direction of the creature's white moustache "It's clearly an ivysaur."

Cobalion nudged the ivysaur, trying to wake it to ask if it knew where the Hippowdon Temple was. With a moan, the ivysaur awoke. It looked around frantically.

"Where's Celebi!?" she demanded.

"Who?" questioned Terrakion.

"The legendary I believe." Virizion said back. Cobalion got the ivysaur, named "Deoxys" to calm down and tell them her story.

"I-I was with Celebi here, and we were going to fight Regice to prevent the end of the world!" explained the red and blue Pokemon, "We found it but then I remember a blow to my head… it knocked me out, and now Celebi and Regice are gone!"

"The end of the world!?" gasped the three deer Pokemon. "Brothers! The temple can wait, for now, let's help this ivysaur prevent the end of the world!" said Cobalion to his younger siblings.

"Thank you but- who are you?" Deoxys questioned. The three introduced themselves as the muskadeer trio of Unova, legendaries in training.

"If it's about defeating this Regice or whatever, then leave it to us!" grinned the blue deer, "We have a lot of power."

"…okay, I guess we can use all the help we can get at this point…" Deoxys reasoned. She levitated off the ground and flew "Follow me! Celebi should be up ahead!"

"Oh boy, I've always wanted to meet Celebi!" smiled Virizion as he galloped behind her. The four raced onwards down the pathway. This particular one was riddled with booby traps and pit falls, but no sign of the grass pixie or the blue robot anywhere. Eventually however, they reached the end.

A clear space where the sun shone though they were inside, illuminated by orange, red and yellow crystals. The area was filled with sand and stone, leading to three central white pillars with three dais' for each of them.

"…look…" motioned Terrakion. Two of the dais' were filled. One was by a rock type Pokemon, and the other was by an ice type Pokemon. They looked at the thing chained by the pillars- a white and gold colored giant.

Regigigas.

"That's Regice!" Deoxys exclaimed. But there was still no sign of Celebi "What did you do with her!?" she yelled, trying to punch the thing with all the force she had. Unfortunately a yellow barrier came up between her and her opponent, Deoxys could hardly penetrate it.

"What!?"

"Holy…" Virizion said, for he was the one who specialized in sealing barriers "That… what is that!?" he questioned, "That's an extremely powerful barrier Deoxys! I mean, extremely powerful! I doubt anything less than an attack from Arceus herself could dent it!"

"Seriously?" Deoxys questioned, "But these things are class three, how can…?"

"I don't know, because the energy isn't being emitted from them…" the grass type examined the barrier "The barrier is being controlled by… someone else…"

Meanwhile twenty feet above their heads was a chuckling, invisible fallen angel, who remarked on how no one can interfere at this crucial moment.

* * *

><p><strong>THE EIGHT PATHS<strong>

"Eight paths… Which one do we take…?" Malispite crossed his arms. Gliscor looked carefully, and chose path number four.

"I'll go down this one, you all can decide for yourselves." said the purple bat, flying down the hallway. Malispite shrugged, and took the second. Just then though, he was pulled back by Gallade.

"I had a thought." said the green knight to Malispite, "Can't your sister just use her chosen one powers to find the right path for us?"

Gallade and Malispite looked at the white and pink bat expectantly. Mercifond threw her arms up, "How am I supposed to do that!?"

And then they warped directly into the inner sanctum. This greatly surprised Deoxys and the muskadeer triplets. Mercifond simply stood there, gaping at the sheer stupidity of it all.

"Deoxys! And… I see you've found our friends!" Gallade smiled. The groups quickly exchanged stories, getting both of them up to speed. Deoxys told her share of what happened, Malispite theirs.

"I see… so two of the three keys are already there…" said Gallade. He looked up at the enormous golem that was Regigigas, not wanting in the least to fight something so powerful.

"There's one key left: Registeel." Deoxys motioned, "Right now, there are seven of us versus one ugly robot. He has to come here no matter what, so we'll wait right here and kill him when he does."

"Sounds like a good plan to me!" Malispite growled, releasing a bit of energy in excitement.

"Yeah, and after this, we'll go to the Hippowdon Temple and stop the three regi's from awakening!" said the three deer. There was a pause when this was shouted.

"…we're in the Hippowdon Temple." Mercifond rubbed her temples. The three brothers stared at each other.

"Brothers…" said Cobalion, "Do you know what this means…?"

…

"IT MEANS I FINALLY LED US TO THE RIGHT PLACE THIS TIME!" cheered the blue deer.

"YAYS!" cheered the other two.

"NOTHING COULD POSSIBLY RUIN THIS MOMENT!" all three elatedly shouted.

**_BOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH !_**

And then Gardevoir came, holding up two light swords, acting emotionless and repeating the word 'kill' over and over.

"FRIC!"

* * *

><p>The pink psycat was able to dodge every single trap perfectly and without setting off most of them, thanks to her psychic powers. Mewthree silently flew forwards, in the direction she thought Xeno was heading.<p>

"Xeno…" she murmured softly, his name even making her feel warm inside.

Suddenly, movement. She heard crashing and arrow firing and giant rolling balls, someone was behind her and setting off the traps. Thinking it could be an enemy, Mewthree positioned herself behind some rocks and lowered her power level to negligible levels.

But before the other pokemon arrived, another warped in using sealing paper.

Gliscor's path had taken a turn for the worse. There was a trap every other second that he had to dodge or karate chop his way through. In fact, there was even a giant boulder that he had to run away from. I mean really! How dare the ancients rip off Indiana Jones like that!?

Finally, Gliscor saw a clearing- a relatively open area with lots of rock formations. Panting, he went over and sat on one of the rocks, getting his air back.

Gliscor felt like he was being watched. He turned around to a black four legged Pokemon with a crown and blue cape. Levitating next to him was his book.

"Hello, Gliscor."

Gliscor flew back twenty feet. There was no mistaking it- this was Umbreon, the man who led his best friend to get possessed by Kurades! Gliscor knew he was in big trouble; if agents Raptor and Blaze combined couldn't take care of him, them he was as good as dead.

"Don't be so tense." chuckled the black colored creature, "I just want to talk."

"…talk?" Gliscor asked, disbelieving.

"Yes. Or rather, my master wishes to speak with you. One moment please…" Umbreon lifted his book, turning a few pages on its own, and then flashing some light onto Umbreon's forehead, where a single paper attached to it.

When this was done, Umbreon's eyes were yellow, and with multiple irises. Gliscor was once again face to face with the horror called Kurades.

"Gliscor my boy!" grinned the monstrosity possessing Umbreon, "How have you been since we last met!?"

"…You nearly killed my best friend." Gliscor said sternly, "I'm not talking to you."

"Ah yes, that whole thing. I suppose we got off on the wrong foot didn't we, hahaha!" laughed Kurades as if it were a funny joke, "Ah, but fine. Don't talk to me, just listen to my proposal."

_'Proposal?' _questioned Gliscor in his mind.

"Gliscor, I want you to join my army, the newly named Atrum Futurum!" Kurades grinned.

"Now I know what you're probably thinking…" said the deceased man, "Why bother joining Atrum Futurum? After all, it's not like we get along much right? Well Gliscor, I'm here to convince you that you'd be better suited on… well, my side, as opposed to Arceus'."

Mewthree, still hiding, listened intently to this conversation. Once, she had asked Absolix what he thought about Kurades, a class Five when he was alive. His reply was this:

_"Oh Kurades? You let me worry about him, I'm sure he has a plan to bring back his former body, and I can't have my favorite apprentice dying too soon."_

_"Favorite? I'm your only apprentice…"_

_"Fine, now you're my least favorite. Mewthree, listen: if you ever run into Kurades, or vice versa, whatever you do, do not, and I repeat, do NOT listen to anything he says."_

_"…why?"_

_"Do you know what his special ability is?"_

_"Well… he was an Alphazoan once so… creation powers?"_

_"His creation powers are fearsome yes, but he has another gift that's even more terrifying, one that does not require energy to use._

_He has the ability to make you believe the lies he feeds you."_

"I don't belong on your side!" Gliscor said firmly, circling his opponent "My place is right here!"

"Is it?" Kurades asked, "You're fine with being the dead weight on the team?"

Gliscor opened his mouth, but said nothing. Kurades grinned further "Your eyes tell me everything, boy. You're afraid. You know you're incompetent and yet you still hang around with your so-called friends going around on dangerous missions.

You don't want that life. No. All you wanted was to hang around school, where the greatest pressing issue was how to get a good grade on your next exam. Instead, here you are: with the responsibility of saving the whole world on your shoulders.

And you keep wondering to yourself, 'Why am I doing this? Why?' Isn't that right…"

Gliscor stood still, even his breathing seemed shallow.

"Moreover, you envy your friends." continued Kurades, "While you stay with an unchanging level of power, your friends get stronger and stronger, taking the spotlight and stopping one crisis after another. At first you convinced yourself that as long as you tried, you would be fine.

But then one day, you realized the horrible truth to this world: that of winners and losers. Birth and circumstance are unequal and you know it. You wanted to be a winner, yet it is only now that you see yourself for what you truly are."

"No…" Gliscor said softly, "That's…"

"But that isn't the worst part, is it?" sighed Kurades "Oh no. That pales in comparison to the one thing you truly want. The one thing that has convinced you to remain in these horrible situations: a woman. A woman so close to you, yet so far away. You never had the courage to tell her how you feel, because you think she won't reciprocate…"

Kurades gazed deep into Gliscor's lifeless eyes "Oh wait, my mistake.

You already know she doesn't love you."

There was a heavy silence in the air. Mewthree held her breath, praying to whatever deity existed to not let her be discovered. Gliscor stood still, having lost the ability to speak. Kurades, still in Umbreon's body, looked down upon him, close to his face.

"I can give you what you want." he whispered "Power, the girl, anything. On my side, the ending is that you get to live a peaceful life, happily married to your beloved. Or, you could stay on my sisters' end and forever be entangled in her endless mission for peace that will never happen.

Think about it."

Papers flew everywhere, and Kurades was warped out of the room. The purple bat stayed silent, not moving an inch. Even Mewthree's breathing was shallow.

Gliscor finally exited the area without another word.

Mewthree hesitantly followed him, no longer knowing what to expect ahead.

* * *

><p>Gardevoir slammed on Gallade with a light sword, the fighting psychic blocking it with a Psycho Cut of his own "Gardevoir! Listen to me!"<p>

She didn't, and sent him tumbling back with a repulsive light wave. The three Muskadeers surrounded her, Cobalion with a Thunder Wave, Virizion with Leaf Blade and Terrakion with Stealth Rock.

She was hit by Leaf Blade, and then imprisoned in a paralyzing rocky cage.

"What the hell is wrong with you guys' friends!?" Virizion shouted.

"She's just… uh…"

"And were those light moves she used earlier?" Cobalion asked suspiciously, "I thought only-"

"Just be quiet for now we need to cure her!" Mercifond and Malispite shoved them aside. The two bats looked at their friend, who was struggling to get out, yet had the most calm expression on her face. She glared at them with the most terrifying look of all- pure and utter hatred on her face.

"What do we do?" Deoxys swooped next to them, "We needed Kairi to cure her last time, and she's not here!"

"Merc?" Malispite turned to his sister. The white bat sighed, but tried, concentrating on her glowing golden necklace. A bright light filled the area surrounding Gardevoir, and when it evaporated, she fell down, unconscious.

"I think I… did it?" Mercifond was not sure whether she had cured Gardevoir or not. The three Muskadeers and the unovan princess were surprised at this strange power.

"Mercifond is the Chosen One." smiled Gallade. This led to all four letting their jaws drop to the floor.

"Wait… I sense someone coming." Deoxys turned to a path. Everyone tensed up, expecting Registeel to pop up. The figure got closer and closer, until it flew out of the third path with an annoyed look.

"Ah, there you are."

"Celebi!" Deoxys shouted, "Oh thank Arceus, I thought for sure…"

"What I want to know is…" Celebi asked, "How the hell did Gardevoir manage to defeat Registeel?"

There was a unanimous pause among Calestia and the Unovans, broken by Mercifond asking "She beat Registeel?"

"Yes." said Celebi. A second figure appeared behind her, walking with its two stubby legs aside from Celebi, facing them with its seven red eyes. Everyone gaped when they saw it in full light: it was Registeel, the third key.

"Celebi watch out!" Deoxys shouted, "Registeel is-"

"Right behind me. I know." Celebi said, "I had to repair it and convince it to follow me."

Once again, there was a unanimous pause among the group, a sinking feeling wedging into their hearts. They stared at Celebi, the words 'I had to repair it' circulating throughout their minds.

"I thought…" Virizon started "I thought that… we had to destroy the keys… why would you…?"

"…Well I suppose this façade has to end. I'm sick and tired of it." Celebi looked at them tensely, more dread instilling in the room

"About a month ago Arceus notified the Council of a possible traitor in the Hall of Origin. A Pokemon called Clear Bell, who apparently had let Helix know about the weakened state of the council, who distracted Arceus during the time Absolix invaded the school, as well as being responsible for the revival of Neo Genesis.

Weren't you at all curious how they're still alive, despite none of them having the immortality gene? Here is the short answer: they were transported through time to the present." Celebi stated.

"No…" Mercifond shook her head.

"I am Clear Bell." said Celebi, eyes glowing in a dangerous manner, "I am the traitor whom Arceus foolishly trusted."

"No…!" Virizion whispered, refusing to believe his idol was the traitor Arceus had mentioned "No it's not true!"

"I was never loyal to Arceus." Celebi gritted her teeth, "That damn woman said she would try and get the humans to stop destroying nature! She promised that the jungles disappearing from the world was going to be rid of in just a century!

SHE PROMISED MYUU WOULDN'T DIE!"

"Celebi!" Malispite shouted, finally seeing her for what she really was.

"Arceus is no God! She is a powerless fool who lets evil run rampant throughout this world in the name of supposed peace!" furiously shouted Celebi "200 years ago I pledged loyalty to Absolix for the simple fact that he can kill Arceus! She has to die, and Regigigas will make it happen!"

"Celebi, you…!" Terrakion gritted his teeth.

"Registeel, go to where your brothers are! Revive the monster!" the green psychic shouted.

Registeel zoomed over to the barrier, but before it was breached it was stopped by the three fighting type legendaries in training. They shouted that they would take care of the golem, the others would have to deal with Celebi.

"Fools." Celebi snarled, "I have more than enough power to deal with all of you." a green halo surrounded her, plants appearing left and right "Get in my way and I will have to kill you!"

Malispite activated his Demon's Offence. Mercifond her Angel's Defence, Gallade struck a pose, and Deoxys gathered her power. It was the four of them versus a class three Legendary, Clear Bell.

Before the battle took place, someone stepped out of the catacombs.

"Hm." said the dark purple humanoid, "I could have logically sworn Absolix was here. Where could he have logically gone?"

There was a momentary pause as all five Pokemon looked at the newcomer "Xeno…" Celebi stated, wondering why he was here.

"None of you have seen Absolix around here have you?" the four eyed Mewtwo clone asked. There were pauses among the group "Pity. I know he's around here somewhere…"

Xeno did a double take at the Calestia group, "Ah, I logically know of you. Mewtwo's friends."

"Mewtwo…? You've met him?" said Gallade.

"Indeed. Quite intimately now that I have his memories." the dark psychic said, getting the groups attention "I have been asked to tell you his last message: Please do not worry about me from now on. It is for the best that I am killed."

The last sentence got their full attention. Calestia became wide eyed with fear "What do you mean!? Where's Mewtwo!?"

"I have absorbed him." stated Xeno.

"What!?" Mercifond gasped.

"Do you not comprehend?" Xeno asked

"I have eaten Mewtwo.

His power is now mine."


	12. Xenophobia III

Chapter forty eight: Xenophobia (Act three: The Broken World)

-

_PREVIOUSLY ON LEGENDARY PKMN…_

_"I…I'll kill you…! ABSOLIX!"_

_"Regigigas is a class Five legendary. Hypothetically, he is even stronger than Arceus right now."_

_"I am Clear Bell. I am the traitor whom Arceus foolishly trusted."_

_"Do you not comprehend?_

_I have eaten Mewtwo._

_His power is now mine."_

_-_

_"I assume you did not illogically come here for nothing. What is it you desire from me?" asked the purple colored Pokemon._

_Mewtwo stared at Xeno, who just now realized how broken his predecessor looked. The psycat gazed downwards, as if filled with regret. Finally, after some silence, Mewtwo looked back up at Xeno._

_And he did what must be done._

_"You are the fourth clone of Mew, correct? That means you share the same DNA as I, correct?" said the purple psychic._

_"…Indeed." Xeno noted, "In fact I share much of my original DNA with you, more so than Mewthree."_

_"And it's true that… they say you can defeat Absolix?"_

_"Indeed." said Xeno once again, "I grow stronger each and every day. My power level is now 112,079, combined with the fact that I am a logical being and the fact that I can cancel his powers, Absolix will be destroyed by me. Quite soon in fact."_

_"…" Mewtwo looked at his clone blankly. Not even Xeno could guess what was going on in his mind. Finally, he spoke_

_"I did some research on you ever since you infiltrated Tajiri High…" Mewtwo began, "According to your astounding genetic code, you really will be able to defeat Absolix at the rate you are going."_

_Xeno blinked once "I'm glad you agree with me. Am I to logically assume you are not hostile?"_

_"Yes." Mewtwo said, "In addition to this I found out the nature of your astounding ability. The mouth on your back."_

_Xeno stood still. His power over dark matter had been a lie to Absolix- any dark type could do that with enough practice. No, his true ability, his trump card, was the giant mouth that covered his back._

_With it and its four tongues, he was able to take in literally anything and convert it into raw energy. In this way he could recover from major wounds in mere seconds. However, almost no one knew this due to the brown cape he always wore._

_"I see. Truly, you are my ancestor." the dark purple monstrosity complimented._

_"I have a proposition for you, Xeno."_

_"Very well, what is it?"_

_"I want you to absorb me."_

_For the first time, Xeno was surprised. His four eyes became a bit wider than usual "I'm sorry…?"_

_"Given our similar genetic data, if you were to absorb me not only could you heal yourself but more importantly gain an increased power level by a factor of-"_

_"-fifty thousand…" Xeno finished his sentence, "Which would logically forward my plans by almost 34% faster…"_

_Mewtwo stayed silent. Xeno overlooked this proposition, in which there was absolutely no drawbacks for him, only gains. Mewtwo spoke up, asking him if he had any qualms about 'eating' his older brother. Xeno replied that he did not._

_"I am a being of pure logic." he said, "If you consent then I will do it without illogical hesitation."_

_Mewtwo looked Xeno in the eyes "I consent."_

_"But before I do… may I ask why?" Xeno said. Mewtwo told him that he was and would never be anything but a petty clone of Absolix. His thoughts, desires, and even personality would inevitably be shaped by him no matter what he did. The only way to escape this horrid fate was by destroying Absolix._

_But he could not do that. Worse still, his insanity grew every day, and he threatened to harm his friends, nearly killing one of them today. He could not risk himself performing another such incident, which is why this method would be perfect for him. In this way, he could disappear and yet still contribute towards defeating Absolix._

_"…I see." Xeno noted, "Yes, that does make sense. Due to the limitations of previous technology, I suppose you would suffer such an existence…" thought the man._

_"End my pain." Mewtwo begged him. The dark psychic took off his cape, and turned around to reveal a giant mouth on his back. Four black tongues lashed out, and casually touched Mewtwo._

_"Are you ready?" Xeno asked. Mewtwo showed no hesitation._

_"Do it."_

_-_

_End Flashback_

The members of Calestia could not believe it. Even Celebi, now turned foe, gaped at the sheer horror of what Mewtwo did to himself. There was a dead silence when Xeno finished. His four eyes looked at them with utmost seriousness. He was telling the truth.

Mercifond trembled all over her body. The rest of them fared no better, shaking with the unanimous certainty that Mewtwo was forever gone.

"You… You…!" Malispite growled lowly, a small tear in his eye.

"Do you understand now?" Xeno asked impatiently, "If so, then I must be going. I will find Absolix, and I will defeat him this time."

As Xeno turned away, a giant Shadow Ball zoomed next to him, prompting him to stop. Sighing, he turned around to face Deoxys, now more enraged than she had been in her entire life.

"Give… him… back…!" she demanded in a harsh voice.

"Were you not paying attention?" Xeno stated, "Mewtwo is dead. His power is now mine. Do not be so illogical."

"Mewtwo didn't know what he was saying! It was his insanity that said that, not him!" Deoxys shouted.

"It was that very insanity that prompted him to me." replied the dark psychic.

And then, they heard clapping. Xeno automatically narrowed his eyes at something behind them. Turning around, they saw a long black haired human. He was tall, with a black trench coat, a black and red striped shirt, golden colored eyes and blue pants.

"Wow, you messed them up pretty bad." the human smiled. Celebi whipped around, immediately suspicious.

"Who are you, and why did I not sense you coming?" she glared.

"Because I didn't want you to until now." said the man with a large grin.

"What do you want, Takamura?" Xeno sighed. At this, the members of Calestia knew who he was- the man who Gliscor once fought, but last time he was in the body of a robot. Now he had come in person.

"New orders from up top." said the man, "Absolix is definitely here, but we lost his aura about thirty minutes ago. We think he's still here. Oh and also, someone hacked our system. We think it was the secret agents, so if you see any of those, kill them on sight."

"Fine." said the dark purple Pokemon, despite knowing who it was really was who hacked the system.

"Oh, and you guys." Gin addressed the members of Calestia, "For someone with as high a power level as Mewtwo, it'll take about an hour to digest.

So if you pull him out of Xeno's mouth within thirty minutes or so, he should be pretty much intact."

Wide eyes flooded the area. The teenaged Pokemon realized that if he was right, they could save Mewtwo!

"Gin!" Xeno raised his voice "Why did you tell them that?"

"Because this looks like a fun fight." Gin leaned against one of the walls, "And besides, what are you so angry about? You claim to be able to beat Absolix, what's a bunch of kids compared to you?"

Xeno stood still, eyes narrowed at the most annoying member of Team Rocket "I do not get angry. Emotions are illogical, therefore I do not have any."

"Whatever you say man." Gin waved his hand, "We'll watch the show and see."

Xeno turned to face his opponents; Malispite, Mercifond, Gallade, Deoxys, and some sort of caged Gardevoir.

"This will be over soon." Xeno warned them "Infinite Darkness!"

A gargantuan ocean of darkness was summoned and crashed down upon the members of Calestia. Thinking them done in by his attack, Xeno did not see Gallade's Leaf Blade striking him in the gut, sending him back a few feet and leaving a small gash.

"Yeah, no." Gallade said, everyone else was behind him and perfectly okay, being protected by a shield made by Mercifond.

"…very well. I shall use more power." Xeno used Endless Wave, an attack that shot a purple and black beam from a small sphere that was able to penetrate concrete with ease. The narrow attack missed, letting the members of Calestia split up and go to either side of Xeno.

"Infinite Darkness!" Xeno summoned more streams of dark energy and launched them at his foes. When they dodged, he twisted the dark matter until it formed a perfect sphere encompassing them all- and then he imploded it.

He let the teenaged Pokemon fall to the ground. They cringed in pain, but managed to stand back up.

"As you can see, by absorbing your friend my telekinetic powers have increased tremendously." Xeno stated, "Now I have absolute control over my attacks- Psychic!"

A repulsive blast shook the area, but Mercifond shielded them again with her Angel's Defense and Chosen One Shield. Her brother gathered power and flat out ignored the blast, speeding at Xeno with a Thunderpunch in hand.

Before the moment of contact, Xeno flew up into the air and launched another Psychic that sent Malispite into the ground, then summoned twin orbs and fired two Endless Waves at them.

That's when Deoxys came up behind him and used her shifter powers to wrap him up in her arms. Crashing down, she yelled to Gallade "NOW!"

The green psychic had been charging a Swords Dance this entire time. Finally ready, twin blue halos surrounded his arm, now encompassed by their armor like capability. Gallade tensed his muscles and used Close Combat the second Deoxys let go. The blow hit Xeno like a miniature explosion- he fell.

Just before hitting the ground the man stabilized himself, and saw an oncoming Mercifond and Malispite ready to take him out.

"Enough…" Xeno launched five Endless Waves at them both, hitting the two siblings, knocking them back into the walls.

"Whoa! It looks like this guy might be too much for them!" Terrakion noted.

"Focus brother!" yelled Cobalion, beginning to sweat.

_"ZAP CANNON."_ The metallic monster launched three separate spheres of electricity aimed at each of the three fighting brothers. All of them, being fast, managed to dodge the spheres.

"Now, hit him again!" Cobalion commanded. They suddenly grew aura horns, and at each angle slashed the creature with their Sacred Sword attack. Registeel fell to the ground, but got up and launched a wave of Flash Cannons at them.

Virizion luckily had prepared for this- he created a magnetic seal, which drew all of the Flash Cannons away long enough for his brothers to use Swords Dance, make their horns resembled giant blades, and slash him once again with Sacred Sword.

This time, Registeel did not get up. Its red eyes dimmed until they turned a dull grey.

"We… we did it!" Terrakion smiled, "That thing was harder than I thought…"

"No time for that, we have to help our friends." Cobalion turned to Calestia, still struggling to fend off Xeno.

"Wait!" Virizion got their attention. The metal key began to repair itself suddenly. A green halo seemed to makes its wounds all but disappear, until finally it stood back up.

"Oh no you don't…" Celebi glared at them, right behind Registeel "I need to awaken Regigigas for Absolix. You three will be eliminated!"

"Crap!" Cobalion cursed, now they had to deal with not only Registeel, but Celebi as well. He needed a good plan and he needed it fast. Virizion interrupted his train of though by pointing out that there was something weird with the ceiling.

Indeed there was, a red yellow and blue seal suddenly appeared on the ceiling, and small rocks started crumbling down. Then, suddenly and without warning the roof of the Hippowdon Temple collapsed.

"What!?" Celebi looked upwards.

"SACRED FIRE!"

A purple flame erupted from the sky, aimed directly at Celebi and Registeel. They were both singed by this super effective attack, causing them both to fall away.

From the blue skies came none other than Ho-oh. He zoomed down with his majestic rainbow wings and perched next to the three fighting brothers.

"Ho-oh…" Cobalion said in awe.

"Celebi…!" Ho-oh tried to restrain himself, "You… we heard everything!"

"What!?"

"This temple is under Arceus' jurisdiction! She heard everything! She's the one who called for the roof to collapse to make entering easier!" Ho-oh shouted "Why Celebi!? Why!?"

"Like you would understand." the grass fairy said bitterly, "Come on Ho-oh, I'll take you on! This will be over before you even know it!"

"No it won't." Ho-oh said lowly, "Like I said, Arceus heard everything. And so did all of us.

More are coming."

This was supposed to be threat, but Celebi was completely unwavered "Fine then. I'll beat them too. Anything to revive Regigigas."

"You can't possibly hope to win!" the crimson bird shouted, "Give up and accept your punishments!"

"No. I will win." said the grass legend, "Because Ho-oh, there's something I've never told anyone since my time in the Hall.

I am a class Four Legendary."

"You bluff." The fire phoenix narrowed his eyes. In response, Celebi's EPressure suddenly flooded the entire area, created a couple small shockwaves as it released from her body.

"Release Command:" Celebi's eyes glowed an unnatural blue, "Wrath of Gaia."

Still more power flooded the area, as well as a blinding light that the four had to shield their eyes from. Even Registeel was interested, trying to discern whether it would have to fight this new Pokemon. And then finally, when it was over, Ho-oh gaped at the sight.

Celebi's head had literally opened up like a flower in bloom, the peak of her head now a reddish pink unopened bud. Her eyes had become oval shaped with dot patterns around them in black. Celebi's body had become slightly larger and longer, with her legs ending in points instead of feet. The grass surrounding her wrists was brimmed with grass, giving her forearms the shape of gloves. Two thorny, twisting vines had replaced her fairy wings.

"Celebi…" the great bird breathed.

"This is my real appearance." said the sinister version of Celebi floating beside him "Shocked?"

Needless to say, he was. The three muskadeer's, watching all of this, tried to lift Ho-oh's spirit.

"We might be weakened, but we can take care of Registeel, Ho-oh sir." said Terrakion, "If you can take care of Celebi…"

Ho-oh continued to stare at this green plantlike monstrosity that used to be his companion. Her power was no joke- the great flaming phoenix could feel how much she was holding back her power, and if his calculations were right, she really would be a class Four.

Considering he was a class Three, unless help arrived he had no chance of winning.

"You three do that." Ho-oh said instead, "Don't worry. I've got her."

"Cute." Celebi noted his lie, while the three fighting types went to guard the final dais. Ho-oh remained firm.

"Sacred Fire!" he got in the first move, encasing Celebi within a sphere of purple fire. The flames danced gracefully, but Ho-oh knew that could not be the end of it. Sure enough he was right- through a time portal came Celebi, who slammed him to the ground with a thorny Energy Ball attack. When Ho-oh looked up, he saw five total Celebi who quickly put him to rest with a combined Psychic.

The bird was hit, but he got back up despite the injuries. "Temporal cloning." the Celebi's explained "And yes, I can anchor myself to this time period as often as I need to."

Ho-oh always thought Celebi's strength lay in her ability to heal. He now realized he had been wrong- this was her real strength, the ability to summon herself from the future or past. Not only did this mean she had limitless clones at her disposal, she could dodge any of his attacks by warping to the future.

Worse still, if he did hit her, she could just journey back in time to warn herself about it. This was the type of opponent Ho-oh did not like to face- a dodger.

"Thinking about your next move?" Celebi asked rhetorically, "That's right Ho-oh, I can dodge anything you can throw at me and hit you back twice as hard. Surely you realize how futile this is?"

Ho-oh knew that to warn herself about an upcoming attack, he would see it because the clone would be injured and manifest itself here in this time. But that still left the matter of her able to warp back and forth through time to make sure his attacks never connected.

"Maybe it is futile." said the phoenix, "Or maybe you're still bluffing."

"Fine then. Energy Ball." she launched yet another Energy Ball with thorns at him, and he dodged this by flapping into the air. Behind him he heard something and lashed out with Brave Bird, almost hitting a Celebi, spying an injured one from the corner of his eye.

"Shit!" he used Flamethrower to scatter the clones, but one came up from below and fire a Psychic right in his belly, causing him to lurch. He fired more Flamethrowers and Fire Blasts left and right, hoping to hit something but instead Celebi expert fully evaded each and every one of his moves.

The grass pixie retaliated this effort by slamming an exhausted Ho-oh with a Psychic attack. Ho-oh was too tired to fly and plummeted to the ground. His opponent taunted him at his wasted effort.

"Nice Sacred Fire attack two minutes from now." Celebi smirked, as an injured one told her something "I'll be sure to avoid it."

The great bird cringed in pain. Did her technique have no weaknesses? Was it even possible that Ho-oh could defeat this traitor?

And then he spied something. The injured Celebi from earlier vanished, but just as it did, he noticed purple flames that were burning her. His Sacred Fire attack had a nasty side effect of nearly un-healable burns that lasted for a long time. Even now, his original two Sacred fires were still consuming the ground without signs of stopping.

It was the fact that the celebi had the burn at all that made Ho-oh think "Maybe… just maybe…"

"What are you muttering about?" Celebi asked. Ho-oh stared straight at her. He had a plan. Using simple signs, he created a small seal invisible to his opponent. Then he initiated his plan.

"Roost!" he declared. His injuries slowly began fading away. Celebi scoffed at this new attack.

"Like I'll let you heal. Psy-"

And then another wormhole opened up. But this one was much, much bigger than Celebi. Another Celebi tumbled through the wormhole, in addition to a large bumbling object that also fell on the ground.

The object was actually a Pokemon, and it stood up with a huge grin on its beak.

"It worked." Ho-oh said to himself from a minute into the past. The first Ho-oh grinned, while the Celebi could not believe what had happened.

"I'm sorry." the Celebi from earlier said, "A minute ago, Ho-oh used Roost and I went to use Psychic on him when he suddenly switched to an offensive Brave Bird. He grabbed me, then used some kind of seal that made me warp here!"

"That would be the classic energy activation seal." said one of the Ho-oh, "With the right know how, it forces you to use your powers. A basic seal really, but of so useful don't you agree?"

"I do agree." said the other Ho-oh "And now that I have help, I think its time to turn the tables."

Celebi frowned from up above. She thought Ho-oh couldn't do anything since he hardly knew much about seals or dimension altering, but to think he could use such a basic technique in such a way…

"I'll be sure not to repeat that." Celebi said, "But it doesn't matter one bit. Even a hundred of you wouldn't be able to stop me."

"We'll see about that." the Ho-oh's charged at the Celebi's.

-

The pink psycat had lost sight of Gliscor for some reason. She wandered aimlessly through the maze like cavern and all of its tricks and traps. Somehow, her reflexes were surprisingly good today because he hadn't even been touched once. Her psychic powers must have been increased, because she somehow knew that the traps were going to happen before they actually.

"Xeno." Mewthree whispered. She could sense his aura, it was very close. From the looks of it, he was engaged in battle. She would soon help him "Please wait just a little longer…"

And then she collapsed. Mewthree felt extreme nausea unlike anything else, and it was so sudden she had no time to prepare herself. On the ground, she spat out saliva, her arms wobbling as the psycat struggled to remain in a crouched position.

And then she saw it. There was the green haired girl, Gardevoir. But she had concentric blue eyes for some reason. She mumbled something to Absolix, who looked concerned

Suddenly, Gardevoir plunged at Absolix. He tried to defend, but she struck him in the heart. Gardevoir was gone, and Absolix became motionless, and Mewthree could see he was breathing harshly and skating from pain.

The images stopped as suddenly as they came. Mewthree gasped, and was instantly out of her painful state. Slowly she stood back up, wondering what had overtook her. Was she sick or something? And what was with that disturbing image?

For some reason though, she could not dismiss her vision as something ordinary. The girl felt a sense of urgency, so she doubled her speed to find Xeno, and possibly Absolix as well.

-

"We meet again, Cresselia."

His grin made her freeze in place. His dark presence oozed danger, even more so to the frightened girl. Her rational mind tried to think of every possible explanation as to why this should not be happening, but it failed.

"N-No…!" she whimpered. Cresselia knew this man, the Pokemon that had given her nightmares for months as she was forced to replay the gruesome image of Latioux's death over and over.

This was Zoroark.

"Fancy meeting you here." he took a step forward, an action alone that made Cresselia leap back "Stay away!" she shouted.

"Stay away?" asked the mad man, "But Cresselia… how can I do that when you keep coming towards me?"

Behind her, another Zoroark, just as menacing as the first. She instinctively fired a Psycho Cut at it but to no avail as it was just an illusion. She was struck from behind by the real Zoroark.

"Remember me from before!?" Zoroark had her pinned with his hand, Cresselia madly trying to break free like a wild animal. Tears were in her eyes, and her opponent could practically smell the fear.

"Oh this is rich! What a grand coincidence! I heard Arceus sent a team to stall the revival of Regigigas, but YOU'RE on it!?" he laughed.

His touch alone made Cresselia want to scream. She was reminded of the bloody death he had caused her uncle. The tears streamed faster, finally she broke free with an Ice Beam.

"Lugia! Lugia!" she cried in fear, only to be smacked again by a dark type attack.

"Lugia isn't here this time!" Zoroark laughed, "What's wrong, you've got water in your eyes girl, SCARED!?"

Instantly he was in front of her and punched her into a wall. Cresselia literally had no strength to fight- her fear was so overwhelming she lost all consciousness, rendering her a mindless little girl pathetically screaming for a white bird that would not arrive.

"This is pathetic, really." Zoroark sighed. He smacked her around a bit with a Dark Pulse attack, "You're just so helpless you know? Just because I killed your uncle, you're so scared of me now that you can't even move.

Pathetic."

She was hit again and again, still screaming, sometimes for Lugia, sometimes just to scream.

"You're not even worth killing." sighed the black fox "I guess I'll do it later, I have better things to do than smite babies."

"Lu…gia…" whimpered the once proud swan. Zoroark gave her one last Dark Pulse attack, and then he was gone, walking away laughing to himself.

It took Cresselia thirty minutes to realize he was gone for good. She lay there, injured and broken, paralyzed by a fear so overwhelming it made every other hardship seem useless by comparison. She was utterly defeated in both body and spirit, now her tears and blood smeared the floor a putrid color.

She lay there, hating herself and wishing for Lugia to come save her.

-

Gardevoir felt tired.

_"You care for the boy do you not?"_

She did.

_"Let me take control."_ said the voice, strangely familiar to her. _"I will give you enough power to defeat Absolix. Help me, and we will kill him."_

She accepted without hesitation.

Gin chuckled at all the trouble he had caused. Thanks to him, Xeno was fighting off against Gliscor's friends. All and all, a good day's work. Not that he hated Xeno, the guy just needed to be knocked down a few pegs so that he could relate to the real world.

Also, apparently there were TWO Ho-oh's fighting a multitude of Celebi's and some Unova Pokemon fighting Registeel. With such brawls taking place, he started to feel a little left out.

"Hey Absolix, come and talk to me!" he smiled. There was a brief pause before the fallen angel himself materialized out of nowhere.

"I can't believe you were able to sense me…" Absolix muttered, walking over to him.

"Wasn't all that hard." Gin shrugged, "Talk to me, I'm bored. What's new with you?" he asked as if they were casual friends.

"Well I've been researching this 'Sapien City' of yours." said Absolix, standing next to him, "A human only city… who knew they could do something like that?"

"Yep, General White hates pretty much every Pokemon." shrugged Gin nonchalantly.

"Unfortunately there isn't much on it. The city is enclosed in more ways than one, anything going on in there is an explicit secret…" the white humanoid looked at Gin, "So if you would mind telling me what exactly you are?"

"Where's the fun in that?" grinned the black haired man. Absolix chuckled at this amusing exchange.

"So, Xeno is supposed to beat me?" said Absolix.

"Yeah I don't buy it either." said the black haired man, "Sure he'll be stronger than either you or me one day, but strength isn't everything and he doesn't get that."

"Wise words." noted Absolix.

"By the way, what's with that girl over there." pointed Gin in the direction of Gardevoir. Absolix's eyes fell on her too.

"Ah, so you sense that?"

"It's faint, but yes." Gin smiled, "So what's with her? Is she like your illegitimate daughter or something?"

"It's complicated." shrugged Absolix, "Let's just say she will be a very valuable weapon in the war to come."

"Yeah." Gin sighed, "It might not be the war you expect though. It's going to be way messier."

At this, Absolix raised an eyebrow, "Sapien City is planning war with Arceus?"

"You bet. Don't tell anyone though, it's supposed to be a 'secret'." quoted Gin. Absolix raised an eyebrow

"Would you consider an alliance with me?" spoke Absolix, dead serious.

"Our leader hates all Pokemon remember?" smiled Gin, "It'll be a three way."

"Lovely." said Absolix sarcastically. Suddenly, Mewthree emerged from one of the caverns. Xeno, still fighting the 'Calestia', noticed this and quickly rushed to her side. As the two men watched from a distance, they hurriedly spoke a few words, and then the two faced off against Calestia together.

"Oh joy, my apprentice has arrived and joined forces with one of my enemies." noted the fallen angel. Gin laughed at this, remarking how he too thought it was a bit fishy that Mewthree was so in love with Xeno.

The psychic feline and her love fought the likes of Gallade, Mercifond, Malispite and Deoxys brilliantly. Though Xeno did most of the work, their combined teamwork utterly crushed the combinations of their opponents.

With Mewthree's speed and Xeno's power, the likes of the powerhouses Gallade and Malispite fell before their might.

Deoxys and Mercifond stood against them.

"That does it." Deoxys scowled. She raised her hand, which now had a blue symbol on it "Release Command: Shift!"

The blue seal shattered on her arm. Whispering something quickly to Mercifond, the girl charged forth alone. Mewthree charged right at her, her increased speed still so slow she could see every move she was about to make.

Deoxys suddenly morphed.

From behind, she struck Mewthree ten times in one second.

Mercifond gaped, her brother and Gallade who had recovered also let their jaws hang open "Hey, she looks like…!"

Deoxys's head was now conical in shape. Her arms had morphed into two tentacles, her legs had become longer and pointier. Her form resembled Cytosine, the speedster of the Four Stars.

"How did…!?" Mewthree gazed at her. Xeno was equally perplexed.

"A Ribonian…" stated Xeno, Deoxys' white moustache having fallen off, "This explains much. But how can you be a Shifter? The only other Shifter in existence is-"

"My mother." finished Deoxys. Xeno frowned.

She sped forward and hit Xeno so hard he flew through the air. However, the blow was comparatively weak and Xeno turned around charging up and Infinite Darkness Attack. He surrounded Deoxys in a sea of dark matter and then launched a tidal wave of the murky stuff right at her.

Deoxys was hit multiple times, but when the smoke cleared she had gained bulk. Her head had fused to her shoulders, which now spouted fat arms and trailing down, stubby legs.

"Now she looks like those one guys we had to fight! Adenine and Tyrosine!" Mercifond shouted.

"Yeah, my species' different forms are highly specialized, " said Deoxys, morphing back to normal, "Attack, Defense, Speed… I've dedicated my training to morphing between them at will."

She turned into her attack form. Now sporting four whip like tentacles and a tri pronged face, she began charging up an attack she learned recently- the dreaded Psycho Boost. Her arms glowed purple and a mighty aura surrounded her.

Mewthree tried to intervene, but was caught up by Mercifond, who grabbed onto her and prevented her from moving. Gallade and Malispite, each charging their own attacks, Demon's Offence and Swords Dance respectively.

Xeno pitied their pathetic effort by summoning dozens upon dozens of orbs, each one primed to fire an Endless Wave, enough to obliterate the whole area if he chose "Pathetic. You lot are illogical- by charging your attacks in front of me, I logically know exactly what you plan to do next."

"Yeah about that…" grinned Malispite, "See, we have friends in low places."

Xeno paused, his orbs in mid charge, ready to fire "What does that even-"

From the ground burst a purple bat, who knocked Xeno off his sense of balance, sending all of his Endless Waves to the sky by accident. It was during this moment did the three heavy hitters close in on him. Xeno became fearful.

"PSYCHO BOOST!"

"CLOSE COMBAT!"

"DYNAMICPUNCH!"

The resulting impacts from three different sides warped Xeno's body with such force that he felt several bones snapping. The great force scattered the dusty area and sent a shockwave of power throughout the arena. Mewthree could only gape as she watched her lover be crushed by three extremely powerful Moves.

Deoxys, Gallade and Malispite put everything they had into their attacks, and it worked like a charm. Their opponent coughed up blood and collapsed to his knees.

"You…!" he snarled, breathing shallowly.

"Oh my. That was a good move." smiled Absolix from afar.

"Yeah, too bad that won't do much." smiled Gin. At this, Absolix turned towards him, "he doesn't know a healing move does he?"

"Something like that." sighed Gin, frowning, "It isn't pleasant most of the time."

Mercifond let go of Mewthree, letting her rush to her lovers side. She knelt over towards him, asking him if he was alright. Xeno replied that he would be soon- he still had strength left. Xeno stood back up, and Mewthree went to Xeno's side, taking a fighting stance.

"I need five minutes to heal…" Xeno observed the area quickly, "But make no mistake, I'm still as strong as ever. And look at them, they are logically exhausted."

He was right. Aside from Gliscor and Mercifond, the other three was nearly on their knees from creating such powerful attacks.

"Nice thing you helped when you did." Malispite smiled at Gliscor.

"No prob." he grinned back, "Mercifond and I will take care of the rest, you just-"

And then there was a click.

A single click that reverberated through ought the area. It came from the end of the arena, where to the horror of Calestia, Registeel had stepped on the third dais.

"No!" Mercifond yelled. Her words were useless, as the three Regi's quickly began feeding the giant slumbering giant their essences, it was pouring out of the three and into it like a beam.

"We're so sorry!" Cobalion yelled, as he and his three brothers desperately tried to break the yellow barrier, "Celebi kept healing it, and we just…!"

"No!" The Ho-oh's grimaced, their self replicating opponents all having smirks upon their faces.

"This is the beginning of the end, Ho-oh!" shouted Celebi, "With Regigigas awakened, Absolix will be unstoppable!"

"Indeed I will." mused Absolix, "Still won't consider and alliance?"

"Eh, I could take him." Gin smirked. Suddenly, he looked over at Gardevoir, "Hey wait, what's with her?"

As soon as the words escaped his mouth, Gardevoir stood up. She easily and immediately broke the chains and electricity off her body, her eyes still a sky blue in concentric circles.

Mewthree happened to notice this while everyone was distracted by the awakening of Regigigas. She gaped when she saw the blue eyes.

"Hello Gardevoir." waved Absolix friendly when the green haired girl looked at him and him alone.

"Hello Sigma." said Gardevoir.

Absolix frowned. Gin, who was previously bored, began watching intently. Absolix slowly raised a hand at Gardevoir.

"Sadly that won't work." said Gardevoir, "The girl gave me complete control over this body."

For one of the few times in his life, Absolix was genuinely afraid. A frown sat upon his normally smiling face.

"Let's get this over with." said Gardevoir impatiently. She charged at him and Absolix could not dodge. Not even Mewthree, who rushed over to him shouting 'Watch out!' made him able to avoid the next strike.

There was a flash of white light that blinded Gin. When it was over, both Gardevoir and Mewthree had disappeared. Absolix stood there, shaking a bit. His expression was blank and his breathing was shallow.

"Hm. Complicated indeed." smiled Gin.

Ho-oh once more took up a stance against Celebi, who was more than eager fro round two. As the Regi's fed their original body their essences, Xeno stood back and confronted Calestia.

"It appears Mewthree is gone… how logically strange…" Xeno wondered. The five looked around- she was nowhere in sight "However, Absolix is here on schedule."

They turned around, Absolix was indeed behind them, standing next to Takamura Gin. "When did he get here!?" Malispite growled.

"You shall not prevent me from destroying Absolix." said Xeno, "Before I was using about 70% of my power, now I shall give you 100% and possibly beyond!"

"You will give Mewtwo back! We'll beat him out of you if we have to!" Gallade shouted.

"Sorry I'm late."

Everyone in the arena paused. They felt a dark and sinister presence behind them. But it was a familiar one.

"It took me a while to find you guys, Zero wasn't very specific. And I had to put up a couple of illusions to make sure Victini couldn't interfere."

A black shadow was cast upon the arena. Even Ho-oh and Celebi were surprised.

"So, the Mewtwo rip-off came back did he?" grinned the figure, "And oh what a surprise, Absolix is here too."

Gin smiled at this newcomer. Absolix did nothing, staring blankly.

"It's about fricken time you got here." Malispite grinned, "While you lazed your ass off, Mewtwo was literally eaten by this guy. We have to beat the shit out of him to get him out."

"Oh really…" the blackened figure frowned. His white hair billowed in the wind, as he stood in the center of it all.

"Yeah, and Celebi betrayed the council." Deoxys said fiercely, "So help us already."

"Alright fine, here's how we'll do things." Darkrai stated,

"First we'll kill Xeno for hurting Mewtwo. Celebi, you're next for being a dick, and finally we'll deal with Absolix.

With me on your side, we should be done in about five minutes." grinned the blue eyed Pokemon, now fully back in action.


	13. Xenophobia IV

Chapter forty nine: Xenophobia (Act four: The King Awakens )

* * *

><p><em>PREVIOUSLY ON LEGENDARY PKMN…<em>

_"I…I'll kill you…! ABSOLIX!"_

_"I am Clear Bell. I am the traitor whom Arceus foolishly trusted."_

_"Do you not comprehend? I have eaten Mewtwo. His power is now mine."_

_"First we'll kill Xeno for hurting Mewtwo. Celebi, you're next for being a dick, and finally we'll deal with Absolix._

_With me on your side, we should be done in about five minutes."_

* * *

><p>He stood tall, with a small smile on his face. His wispy white colored hair billowed in the slight breeze that came from the hole up above, his darkened body and blood red collar giving him the look of the grim reaper himself.<p>

Darkrai had finally come back from training.

"I see… so you are Darkrai. Some speak highly of you in Team Rocket." Xeno muttered. Darkrai raised his hand

"Well, I don't mean to brag but I'm really-"

"But master Giovanni and I logically believe you to be an incompetent idiot." finished the dark psychic. Darkrai frowned and fumed.

"Alright let's get him…" he said angrily. However this was cut short by a loud boom in one corner of the room. The chains that bound the motionless Regigigas became slowly broken until they disintegrated into ashes.

To their horror, they saw it come to life. First its hollow eyes became a bright and vivid yellow. Turning its head a couple times, it stood up on its broad stub like legs, reaching its full height and dwarfing even Ho-oh, who shook with fear. The thing tested its fingers, casually flicking the wall beside it.

The entire wall crumbled into nothing. It send some of the debris out in space from the sheer force of impact. As Celebi looked on in victory, the rest of them looked on in fear. Regigigas was awake. And if the rumors were true, that meant Absolix had another class Five under his command. With Regigigas by his side, he would be unbeatable.

"GIGA!? IS THAT YOU!?" gaped Darkrai.

A pause.

"BRRRDRDDRDRDR!" said the giant white and green golem in some sort of mechanical speech.

"It really is you! Well hot damn, we finally meet in person!" said Darkrai happily.

Another pause.

"WHAT!?" everyone blared.

"Oh yeah! So see, I invade other guys dreams sometime right? Because I'm the nightmare Pokemon." the prince of darkness quickly explained, "I usually go to this guys' dream, ever since I found him when I was five years old."

"AND YOU NEVER MENTIONED THIS BEFORE!?"

"Truthfully I kind of wondered if he actually existed…" whispered Darkrai, "But anyway how have you been Giga?"

"BRRRDRDRDRDRDDDRDR." said the golem.

"YOU'VE BEEN IMPRISONED FOR THE LAST FOUR THOUSAND YEARS!?" Darkrai blared, never having heard this before, "Okay what the hell is going on here!? Who are you exactly!?"

"THAT'S WHAT WE SHOULD BE ASKING YOU!" everyone yelled at Darkrai, who was apparently friends with a force of nature designed to destroy the world.

"BRDRDRRRDRDDDRR. BRDDRDRDDRRRR." said the regigigas. Darkrai looked at him solemnly.

"I see… you're the class Five that everyone's been talking about…" he said quietly, "And… you've joined up with Absolix…"

"BRRRDRDRDDDRRDR…" Giga said solemnly. Celebi and the Ho-oh's were absolutely baffled by this conversation. Darkrai looked up at the gigantic golem and smiled.

"Well look man, you've chosen your way and I've chosen mine. We'll just have a good old battle one day to settle the obvious differences alright?" he said.

"BRRDRDDRRRDRDRD!" Giga was uplifted by this news.

"Not today though…" Darkrai turned around, "First I have to destroy Xeno, Celebi and Absolix in that order. So can you like, not fight us today due to my busy schedule?"

"BRDDRRRDRDRRRDRR." Giga gave the thumbs up sign, then promptly sat down and began observing. There was a heavy silence in the air while Darkrai warmed up.

"He stopped Regigigas from rampaging…" Deoxys was wide eyed, "And in the weirdest way possible…"

Darkrai was done stretching, he floated back over to Xeno's vicinity "Alright, so all I have to do is beat you so hard you vomit Mewtwo right!? Then let's do it!"

"…My Arceus…" Xeno was aghast and disgusted "You are by far the most illogical creature I have ever had the displeasure of encountering!"

"Yeah well you have four eyes!" Darkrai pointed out lamely.

"I mean… it's just… how…? How can you be so illogical in your thinking?" questioned Xeno, "First you say your friends with a force of utter destruction, next you claim to be able to beat both myself, Celebi, and even Absolix in one sitting. In what universe is that considered logical!?"

"Dunno, ask Palkia he's the expert on those things." shrugged the prince of darkness. Xeno merely stared at him, unable to comprehend that such a being existed. But finally, he got back into a stance, the tongues on his back stealthily retreating, and some of his wounds healed.

"Fine then. I can almost say it will be a logical pleasure to be rid of yo-"

"Time out." Darkrai suddenly said.

Everyone looked at him.

"THE BATTLE HASN'T EVEN STARTED! YOU CAN'T CALL A TIME OUT!"

"Hey, this is important!" Darkrai snarled, "See, ever since I came in this room… I've been feeling depressed for some reason. But now I think that its not me being depressed, but rather my sister instead!"

Gallade had heard of this. The 'Duality Link' shared between two siblings of the Arceus family, a link that allowed a duo or trio of siblings to experience the same intense emotions as the other. Darkrai's had apparently activated.

"You think Cresselia's in trouble?" Gliscor crossed his arms. The prince of darkness nodded his head, then turned to a direction he thought she was "Fine then. Get her back fast, I don't know how much longer we can hold him up."

"I'll be back soon!" Darkrai raced off once again to find his sister. Xeno was still utterly baffled.

"It's remarkable how illogical he is…" muttered the dark psychic, "Starting a fight and then leaving immediately after…"

"We totally agree with you there." everyone in the group said at the same time, each having their own 'unique' experiences with Darkrai. Xeno dismissed it once Darkrai left, and the battle resumed again.

* * *

><p>Mewthree was nowhere. Literally, nowhere. Everything was a pure white, no ground nor ceiling. Merely the vastness of emptiness.<p>

"Um… hello?" she shouted. Mewthree had gotten a strange vision earlier, and for some reason the very events in her vision transpired to reality. In trying to stop Gardevoir from doing something strange to Absolix, Mewthree suddenly found herself here.

Wherever 'here' was.

"Hello!?" she called out, hoping someone would answer. This time she was loud enough because someone answered- Absolix but with blue tattoos.

"M-M-M-Mewthree!" stuttered the man. Mewthree knew where she was now- she was inside Absolix's cranium. Again. And this was Beta, here to greet her.

"Great…" Mewthree rubbed her temples.

"Y-Y-You shouldn't b-be here!" he seemed genuinely afraid, "G-Get out now!"

"How?" asked Mewthree rhetorically. Beta paused. He realized that only they could send her back, and at this he bit his lips and shook his head, being the embodiment of nervousy.

What?" shrugged Mewthree, "Can't you just send me back like before?"

"I-I can't do it alone…!" Beta exasperated, "A-And w-we, um, we, w-we're um-"

And then there was a massive burst of light energy to their left. A gigantic pillar of light formed a ways away, and its massive size dwarfed the two by a thousand fold.

"…what was that?" Mewthree instantly became afraid.

Just then two figure used super speed to enter the vicinity of their area- one was Gardevoir, and the other was the yellow colored Absolix. They began to fight each other like nothing Mewthree had ever seen- the explosions and techniques they were using against each other could have decimated an entire city, if only such a thing existed in this plane.

Mewthree herself would have died a thousand times over in their battle if not for the protective shield that surrounded her, blocking all the numerous attacks. Though it was transparent, she could not see much beyond the shield due to all the light being fire back and forth between the two.

"What the hell is she doing here!?" asked a grey colored Absolix, Gamma.

"Dude, I think she like, might have accidentally entered when Gardevoir pulled that mind warp thingy yanno?" said the orange colored Theta.

"Does it even matter!? We're all going to die! The world is going to end, everything will be destroyed!" cried a gold colored one, Delta, the personality of fear.

"What do you mean!?" Mewthree gazed at Delta, what he was saying scared her completely.

"I'm going back in!" Gamma shouted. In and instant he was gone, presumably fighting back on the outside.

"I'll have to go too…!" Beta stammered, "You too Delta!, Mewthree, w-we'll get Xi to e-explain everything…!"

The two were gone, and Mewthree was by herself. Alone, she looked up at the numerous explosions and swords being fire left and right, this and that direction, catching glimpses of Pokemon moving at super sonic speeds.

This was truly the worst battle she had ever experienced. The sheer amount of destruction was almost unfathomable- two super beings fighting each other to the death. But what would be the outcome? And what would the outcome's consequences entail.

"You really are here…" said a voice behind her. It was the dark green colored personality, Xi, the logical one.

"What's going on? Please, tell me." Mewthree asked. Xi sighed, knowing they would have had this talk anyway.

"The last time you were here…" Xi began, "We… lied a little."

"Lied?"

"We told you there were seven personalities." sighed the man, tilting his glasses up "In actuality, there is eight."

"Eight?" Mewthree questioned. She looked back up at the blue and yellow filled area above the shield "No…"

"The last one, we did not wish to tell you about for your own safety. As well as the safety of everyone on this planet." Xi said.

"That is not Gardevoir up there fighting Sigma. It is Omega who is fighting Sigma, he just happens to be possessing Gardevoir at this time."

Mewthree gaped. Her insane boss instantly jumped a level of ridiculousness.

"I don't want to tell you too much, again for your own safety." Xi tilted his glasses, "but right now, Sigma and Omega are fighting to see who will be in control of Absolix's body.

If Omega gets control… it won't be pretty."

"How… bad…?" Mewthree gazed up at all the amazing technique being fired off.

"We have selective amnesia of the event, " Xi explained, "but we do know one thing for certain:

Omega was the one who caused the Fifth Great Destruction."

* * *

><p>Sigma raced against time itself to stop the false Gardevoir. He worked and thought lightning fast- creating new techniques and seals every single second to try and eliminate the threat of Omega. Unfortunately, his opponent was also equally fast.<p>

Light techniques clashed against light moves. Seals versus seals, even alternate dimensions cancelling each other out as both tried their hardest to get a clean hit in.

"You cannot win Sigma." said Gardevoir, "The last time you won was merely luck. Now, you won't be so lucky."

"Oh? Is that so!?" panted Sigma heavily, summoned more and more swords and blasters, "And what pray tell will you do if I do lose!? Cause another Great Destruction!? Endanger the lives of millions of innocents!?"

"If that is what it takes to accomplish my goals…" Gardevoir summoned a huge version of herself from light, complete with armor and a sword and shield "…then I shall. Avatar Slash."

* * *

><p>A reckoning sound echoed throughout the area. Pure yellow light flooded Mewthree's vision and the shield trembled and began to crack. Xi concentrated, and the shield regenerated itself, but he looked exhausted by the effort.<p>

"Here in his mind… we have to protect you… else you will never escape from here…!"

"Okay let me get this straight." Mewthree helped Xi stand up, "First off, there's another personality called Omega. He apparently caused the Fifth Great Destruction, but you guys sealed him away, but now he's back and trying to take back control?"

"Technically he is still trapped." Xi explained, "He is merely possessing Gardevoir at the moment and lending her all his power."

"Well whatever! What the hell is wrong with Absolix!?"

"Well whatever it was, here we are." noted Xi bitterly, "As I said, selective amnesia of the event: we were created almost instantly after the fifth great, before us Omega was there alone. Since we were at the epicenter of the fifth, we naturally assumed Omega caused it. The man confirmed it.

Sigma and the rest of us fought for control over Absolix's body. Somehow, we managed to win and locked him up, with Sigma taking over as the main personality due to his multiple emotions."

"…what the hell is wrong with Absolix!?" Mewthree yelled angrily.

"Good question." said Xi, "Unfortunately we don't have answers and Game of Thrones is taking place right here and right now. And unless you want the Sixth Great Destruction, we had better make sure Sigma wins again."

"How? What can I do!?" Mewthree blared, pointing out the fact that their weakest moves would evaporate her in an instant.

"Another good question. Actually you are a major hindrance, since we are wasting energy making this shield for you." the green colored man stated.

"Gee. Thanks."

"How did you get here anyway? For that to happen you would have needed to know the exact moment when-"

Another explosion rocked their fortress, causing both to fall over. The two stood back up "We'll discuss this later. Right now we must find a way to send you back."

"No." said Mewthree automatically.

"…what?"

"No." she restated, "I'm here for a reason, I just know it. Sending me back would be pointless."

Xi stared at her "And what exactly would you do?"

The pink girl paused a moment "Well, Omega is just another personality right? Maybe he'd listen to reason."

"That's a good joke." said Xi, rolling his eyes, "Omega listens to neither reason nor emotions. He exists solely to perform his incredibly vague goals, even if we had-" he paused. Suddenly, he began examining Mewthree with his eyes, the girl feeling uncomfortable.

"Wait…" said Xi, sweating, "Yes… Yes! Yes! That's it! You're a genius girl!"

"Obviously…" the female psycat backed up a little. Xi planted his hands firmly upon her shoulders.

"If it's you, it can work!" he declared. Mewthree asked what 'it' was and the dark green personality cried "You're going to tell Omega to stop fighting!"

Mewthree gazed upwards at the millions of explosions and seals that could destroy entire cities "…how could that possibly work!?"

"Game of Thrones, remember!? I don't have time to explain the details." Xi quickly closed his eyes and opened the channel _"__Sigma, it's Xi. We have a plan: create a shield around yourself and block all of Omega's attacks, don't let up. The instant he decides to stop firing, I'm going to warp in with a distraction, the second he lets down his guard, impale him with the seal to turn Gardevoir normal!"_

_"__A distraction?" _the other end laughed.

_"__It will work, trust me." _thought Xi.

_"__I suppose I have nothing to lose. Alright, the shield's up, I'll let you know when he stops."_

Xi turned back to Mewthree, "I'm going to warp you and I there the instant the fighting stops. When we get there, I want you to yell at Omega to stop fighting as loudly as possible."

"…fine. But if I die I'm going to kill you." sighed the pink psycat, figuring she was surrounded by death anyway. Meanwhile with Omega and Sigma, the latter had created an indestructible shield that surrounded both and his personalities. Omega was furiously attacking it from every conceivable angle.

Swords this way, giant Avatars another direction, laser blasts, solar flares, nothing seemed to work. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, Omega stopped firing. The man possessing the usually serene form of Darkrai's childhood friend gazed downwards at the yellow and blue shield.

"You waste an awful lot of energy in this defensive move." noted Gardevoir, "Never mind, I will wait until you disclose it, no matter what you will have less energy than I, thus giving me the advantage. Such a fool, Sigma."

The yellow tattooed Absolix, the one disguising himself as the original, merely uttered that there was no more fighting. A few moments later, Xi and Mewthree warped in. Before either party could react, the psycat inhaled deeply and shouted at the top of her lungs

"Omega! Stop fighting right now!"

In the split second before Mewthree shouted, Omega had prepared a thousand a thousand light swords and cannons surrounding Gardevoir. None of them fired, for the held in midair while the confused Gardevoir proposed a single question: "Alicia…?"

And then Gardevoir was struck with a large red and yellow lance by Sigma. Only for a second did Omega let down his guard, and one second was all the seven personalities needed.

"Damn…such trickery…" scowled Gardevoir. A seal compromising practically the entire area surrounded Gardevoir, and in mere seconds it drained the eighth personality from her body. The seal vanished by slithering away, and Gardevoir, unconscious, fell limply to the 'floor'.

Mewthree was on her knees, exhausted from everything thus far. All seven alternate personalities warped to her, Sigma being the closest.

"Why is Mewthree here?" he asked, and then, turning to the others "And why is she so familiar with you all? I thought we agreed not to conspire against each other."

"We didn't mean to we swaer!" said the gold colored Delta, hiding behind Gamma, who roared "Yeah, well we ARE you ya dickbag! DEAL."

"Oh my…" said the man Mewthree once knew as the real Absolix, "We're going to have a good talk later. For now, let's put things back to normal."

"Who's Alicia!?" was the first thing that came out of Mewthree's mouth.

"…a good long talk." murmured the yellow colored personality.

* * *

><p>And then, suddenly, they were back in reality. Mewthree was next to Absolix, and Gardevoir was lying on the floor in front of him, still knocked out. Gin stood to the left of the Fallen Angel, looking like he was about to laugh up a storm.<p>

"So Gin, what did I miss?" perked up Absolix. Mewthree stared, there was a human right beside them.

"Complicated, eh?" Gin smirked, "Well, a bunch of things. First of all, Regigigas, or 'Giga' has been awakened, a guy named Darkrai came and said he'd beat Xeno, Celebi and you in that order but then he left for some reason."

"Oh my, Darkrai's here?" smiled Absolix, "That one's always a handful."

"Yeah, Xeno's pretty pissed about it." laughed the black haired human. At this, Mewthree noted that Xeno was once again fighting the members of Calestia. She took off without another word, Sigma noting the other 'handful' that he knew.

* * *

><p>Darkrai zoomed into the direction he knew his sister lay. Throughout the cave he flew, dodging all the stalagmites and fallen rocks at high speeds. As he flew further and further in, 'his' feelings of depression increased.<p>

"What happened to you…!?" whispered the prince of darkness. Further in he went, until he finally came upon a large clearing where Cresselia had to be. He carefully searched the area, knowing she was in here somewhere.

Darkrai had been right, but almost wished he hadn't been. What lay on the ground covered by a thin layer of dirt hardly resembled his sister at all.

She wasn't floating, actually lying there on the ground she normally would have deemed unclean. Her normally clean coat was riddled with soil, and her normally bright purple crescent on her back hardly shone at all. She didn't even appear to notice he was there, still trying to cry despite her tear ducts being empty, moaning for Lugia to come.

"…Cresselia…" Darkrai whispered to her. His sister did not hear. The pitch black Pokemon knew he probably wasn't the best person to comfort her. Then again, he was her brother.

"Cresselia snap out of it…!" Darkrai tried again. Still no response "Come on… please…"

Despite the duality link partially sharing their emotions, it still hurt him to watch his sister cringe in fear when she finally heard him.

"Cresselia, it's me, Darkrai." said the teen. He generally placed a blackened claw on her side, watching her cringe once again despite being immune to Darkrai's nightmares "What happened?"

It was some time before she spoke "Him… he came…" she whispered hoarsely "he killed Latioux… he killed him… laughing…"

Darkrai wasn't sure what to make of this. Regardless, he slowly stroked her "He's gone now. It's just me."

"No… we just can't see him…!" shuddered the swan, reliving her nightmare. Darkrai knew fear, and he saw a large amount in Cresselia, too scared to even move.

"Trust me, he's gone…"

"No… Lugia…" she whimpered, wanting her idol to be near. Darkrai figured she was probably reliving trauma from now and way back when Latioux was killed. Lugia being here would make things a lot easier, but unfortunately no one knew where he was and he seriously doubted the white swan was anywhere near here.

Maybe he could conjure an illusion? No, that would hardly work, she'd see right through it. What about contacting Mom? "Mom? You there?" he hesitantly asked. No response, eliminating that option.

This was frustrating him. Never before had the prince of darkness felt so powerless, and right in the moment where he needed power the most "Cresselia, please, Mewtwo is…"

His sentence was lost. Cresselia continued to stare into nothingness, a small stream of tears flowing from her violet eyes. Finally, Darkrai sighed.

"Okay maybe you're right. Maybe he is still here." Darkrai said, despite sensing anything or knowing who 'he' was. At this, Cresselia shuddered.

"Maybe I can't see him." Darkrai also admitted, "But you've forgotten something Cresselia- and that's that I'm the best there is." he leaned down and looked directly in her eyes "And I'll be damned if I let him even touch you while I'm around."

Cresselia stared at Darkrai, a look of disbelief on her face. Darkrai stared right back, not once wavering his determined expression "He'll have to get you over my dead body."

"No… he's…"

"And," continued the pitch black Pokemon "now that I'm here, that makes two of us. Maybe you couldn't beat him alone, but together we can do it."

"…" Cresselia paused "I… I couldn't do anything… he… I was…I was so…"

"Scared…" said Darkrai, finishing her thought, "I know. I know what its like to be afraid. Hell, I am fear so there's that." he chuckled "But Cresselia, you can't be scared forever."

"Yes I can…!" she said with a little force, "He killed Latioux!"

"And if Latioux were here, would he tell you to be afraid of this guy forever?" Darkrai questioned. Cresselia gazed downwards.

"Come on sis. You're better than this and you know it. We've been up against lots of scary things before. Absolix for instance. And when Kurades took over my body and that dick Asmodeus tried to as well… you didn't even falter. You stood up to them, and you did it even though they were a lot stronger than you.

So do it now sis. So what if he's stronger? You have me, and you have everyone else just waiting for you to come out. You don't even need to fight- just think up a plan like you always do. Please."

Cresselia was breathing softly. She stared at her brother, her expression unreadable. Finally, she looked at him with solemn eyes "I can't…"

"Then try. Like I said, I won't let anyone even touch you. I swear." he said to her. The yellow and blue swan lifted up her neck "Darkrai… I'm still scared… he's still…"

"Then use your fear to win. You're the strategist right?" said the prince of darkness

The girl slowly levitated up. Her violet crest on her back glowed softly "Come on. Mewtwo needs us." said her brother, hugging her tightly. When he let go, a rare serene smile was placed upon her beak.

"Thank you."

"Welcome." he smiled back. Darkrai slowly flew out, and his sister followed him with renewed confidence. And despite still being afraid and knowing Zoroark was on the loose, she stuck close to her brother. Already she had a few ideas of how Darkrai could beat him.

* * *

><p>"Oh dear." said a voice inside one of the caverns "My apprentice ran off on me as soon as Arceus told us the news."<p>

Victini stepped out of the cavern and into the main room of Regigigas "Well, let's see what the damage is."

To his right he saw Calestia fighting off what appeared to be a darkened version Mewtwo, most likely the 'Xeno' that Arceus talked about last meeting. To his right, Absolix of course, and a black haired human. Up ahead were two Ho-oh's and a strange looking Celebi. And finally even further ahead sat Regigigas, eyes flickering between black and yellow as he watched everything unfold.

"Ah, hello Victini." Absolix motioned for him to stand, "Haven't seen you in what… 180 years?"

"Hi Absolix." said the fire psychic, a little nervous by his presence here. Once, Victini had met Absolix, but that was when he was three years old, he hardly remembered the occasion "You aren't going to be fighting are you? That'd be really unfair."

"I highly doubt it." smiled the fallen angel, "Tell Arceus that I have Giga on my side, and that she'd best be prepared."

"Great." he said nervously, eying the colossus "Have you seen Darkrai around here?"

"He just left into the catacombs. Something about him needed to see his sister, Cresselia."

"Hm." Victini said to himself, "My idiot apprentice is once again caught up in something it seems…"

"Hold the phone," said Absolix suddenly, "Darkrai is your apprentice?"

"Yeah." smiled the fire rabbit, "My first one too."

"Oh my. If I recall, isn't that a huge thing for your culture?"

"Yep!" replied Victini, "Honestly the reason I haven't taken one until now is because all the previous guys bored me. Darkrai is… interesting."

"He's a handful is what he is." Absolix smiled, "He outright challenged me to battle on several occasions. And apparently today he will deal with me after he defeats Xeno and Celebi."

Victini momentarily flickered to the fight with Celebi, Ho-oh and Ho-oh. He could tell the great phoenixes were losing "Yeah, about that, the first thing he said when we talked about goals was that he wanted to beat you."

"Is that so?" Absolix's golden eyed flickered in amusement "And what do you think of this?"

"I think he might be able to." said Victini directly to the class Five. Absolix's smile never wavered "He'll be a force to be reckoned with, so watch your back."

"Oh?" mused the fallen angel.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'd better help Ho-oh and… Ho-oh over there so bye." he sped away.

* * *

><p><strong>WAIT… WHAT?<strong>

The two Ho-ohs were not faring very well. Despite having two of himself, the great phoenix still couldn't land a single hit on the traitor turned Celebi.

"We need a plan." said one of the Ho-oh's.

"I agree." said the other, looking as Celebi warped the vines to prepare a shield, "Maybe we can-"

He vanished. Ho-oh looked surprised, but Celebi had been expecting it the entire time, hence why she stalled for so long.

"You didn't think that would last forever did you?" smirked the grass pixie, "I never anchored your future self to this time period! So it was only a matter of time before he went back."

"…great." said Ho-oh. He peered around quickly- the three Muskadeers were quietly observing him. Sure they wanted to help, but they were far too injured and this battle was far above their level.

"Brave Bird!" Ho-oh charged at a Celebi with flying energy. It vanished just before impact. To his side appeared a green pixie with an Energy Ball, Ho-oh twisted and blasted a Flamethrower at her but she easily dodged and fire it at him. Ho-oh in turn rose upwards and made that attack miss, and quickly crashed down trying to catch another Celebi but once again failed. Before he knew it, he was hit by a couple surprise Psychics from behind.

Gripping the ground tightly, the sacred bird glared at Celebi.

"I wonder how much more you can take?" mused the grass legendary. Ho-oh guessed it wasn't much more before he fell. He really was no match for her. An injured Celebi popped out of nowhere and told something to the present Celebis.

They dodged just in time, the giant fireball attack from above nearly hit them. However, that wasn't Ho-oh's doing.

"Yo!" out from the sky popped Victini, who landed next to Ho-oh "I'm here to help you."

"Oh great… another one." Celebi frowned. Ho-oh looked relieved, and quickly told Victini everything he knew about her time powers.

"Ah, so that one I saw earlier, she got hit by my attack but traveled back in time to warn the others."

"Bingo. I can't even land a single hit."

"Hm…" said Victini, thinking, "I don't suppose you know how to make a synchronization seal to link us to her time frame?"

"I wouldn't even know where to begin for that…"

"Me neither." admitted Victini, who wasn't much of a sealing type "Alright then, I have another idea that might work."

He stepped forwards and declared to the Celebi's "Since you will already know what I'm doing I'll tell you my next move: as soon as I see an opening, I will hit you as hard and fast as possible with my V- Create attack."

"How does that help you in any way?" asked the traitor, another Celebi telling her something.

"Because I know fire is super effective against grass." he said, "And because I know you don't have the speed to dodge it. Ho-oh, look out and tell me when you don't see any future Celebi!"

"Fool, I can just warp back through…"

And then it hit Celebi. Victini's real plan: and it had her in checkmate. She could predict exactly when and where Victini would attack, but only by sending herself to the past. However, as Victini stated, she could not dodge his attack, as evident by the five or so future versions of herself that came to the present.

It took energy to travel back in time. So if there was an attack that did massive damage, she could not avoid, and needed to travel back in time to warn herself about, she would have to keep traveling back in time to warn herself about it.

And therein lay his true strategy; Victini would only attack if he saw no future Celebi, but since every single second Victini was prepared to hit her, that meant continuous clones had to keep warping back in time and warning her, with Victini and Ho-oh seeing everything.

Thus, while Celebi would keep making copies of herself, Victini would stay there and conserve most of his energy since he would only attack when there were no Celebi. And eventually, she would run out of energy faster than he would.

"Clever." Celebi declared, she instantly warped all her clones back to the present. "Fine then, it looks like you win. Hit me with your attack, I give up."

"Good girl." Victini threw himself at Celebi while cloaked in the harshest flame imaginable. Celebi made no attempt to dodge and he hit her at full speed, causing immense damage to her. Celebi fell over on the ground, and Victini landed next to her.

However, when it was all over, Celebi, although injured, began grinning "Did you really think I'd say that!?"

She summoned more clones of herself from the future and began flying once again. More clones from the future came to warn her about Victini's next V-create. Victini paused, why would she be doing this again when he had already proven it was a worthless strategy?

And that's when Ho-oh saw strange green pods on Victini's cream fur. He looked down and began to sweat "Oh fric… a Leech Seed."

"Yes." grinned the Celebi's, "Coated with a special fire proof seal. You will now be giving me your energy."

And now the tables had turned. Victini's energy was slowly being sapped while restoring Celebi's own at the same time. Now Celebi could stall however she wanted.

"Oh, and I added a Toxic on top of that." said Celebi, "So now you will be giving me your energy, and you'll be poisoned at the same time, and with each second the poison will get worse. Game over Victini."

The fire rabbit and the fire phoenix cringed. This was the power of a class Four- she really was a worthy opponent.

"We need a plan fast, Ho-oh."

* * *

><p><strong>MY BRAIN HURTS FROM ALL THIS TIME TRAVEL JUNK<strong>

With both Xeno and Mewthree facing Calestia, their defeat was nearly certain. Xeno being as strong as he was, and Mewthree being as fast as she was, their combination seemed unbeatable. One by one, Mercifond, Gliscor, Gallade, Deoxys and even Malispite fell before their power.

Meloetta, who had been watching the whole thing, figured she had better do something but she wasn't exactly the competitive type. If she entered the battlefield, she'd be done for without even doing anything. So, she hid behind a rock like she had from the beginning, silently praying for their victory.

But then…

"ALRIGHT I'M BACK." announced Darkrai, emerging from the cavern with his sister Cresselia. Xeno and Mewthree looked at him expectantly, while the rest seemed relieved for his arrival.

"Guess we can retire now…" Gliscor breathed heavily. Darkrai flew next to him and nodded. From now on, it was him versus the Mewthree/Xeno duo. With Mewtwo's life at stake, and maybe ten more minutes to save him, Darkrai was willing to fight both at the same time.

"Oh, you're back." Xeno said disdainfully, "No matter. Come Mewthree, let us take care of him quickly."

"What, you need her to back you up? Scared of a little one on one?" Darkrai taunted, Xeno remained unaltered, his logical mind saying it would be easier with Mewthree on his side. Mewthree concurred the same thing.

"Why are you even with him? You two make a horrible couple." said Darkrai to Mewthree, circling one another.

"Because I happen to love him, and it doesn't matter what you think, because you're a dead Pokemon!" Mewthree engaged battle mode and her surprising speed let her pound Darkrai into the adjacent wall with an Aura Sphere punch attack.

"Actually my opinion does matter."

Mewthree was shocked to see Darkrai had actually blocked her attack, and that he took no damage at all "See, I'm the nightmare guy. I might not know a lot about love, but I do know about fear.

So why do I feel so much of it coming from you when you mention his name?"

Mewthree pounded Darkrai with another Aura Sphere. Xeno told her to clear it, and he fired many Endless Waves at the pitch black teenager. While Xeno did succeed in destroying the wall, Darkrai was right behind them, grinning "That's it?"

"That's right…" Gliscor said, "Darkrai's been training with Victini for two weeks! He's probably a lot stronger now!"

Darkrai faced his group "That's where you're wrong Gliscor! In actuality…

I HAVE NOT GOTTEN ANY STRONGER AT ALL!"

A pause. Many gaping glances were on him. Even Ho-oh and Celebi stopped in their tracks, while Victini nodded his head in agreement. Giga still sat without moving.

"What!?" Cresselia blared, "I thought…but you… WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING ALL THIS TIME THEN!?"

"Training!" replied Darkrai, "And now that I've trained, both you and Mewthree are going down!" he pointed at the two of them.

"How illogical can you be?" Xeno questioned. Mewthree wasted no time in attacking Darkrai, using her great speed to zig-zag and confuse him, eventually getting behind Darkrai with ease and firing a Psychic at him.

And at the same time she did, Darkrai was right behind her, punishing her back with a Dark Pulse Punch. The resulting blow sent her flying towards Xeno, who's four red eyes opened widely. Mewthree managed to get back up, but she was injured greatly "H-How did…?"

"Like I said, I didn't get stronger." Darkrai said, eye glowing an azure color "I got faster."

Faster than even Mewthree, he closed in on the pink psycat and delivered a Shadow Punch and Dark Pulse Punch combo that sent her backwards into one of the pillars. Instantly it was one on one with Mewthree unable to move.

"Your turn!" Darkrai sped at Xeno, who had seen enough to put a permanent shield between him and Darkrai. The prince of darkness didn't seem to notice it was there, for he punched Xeno in the gut anyway then combed it with a Shadow Punch and a finally a Dark Pulse.

Steadying himself in midair, Xeno questioned how he was able to do such a thing "Quick Dark Voids, instant warping."

"So you can even do that…" mused Xeno, "Enough of this. I will no longer hold back against you. Let me show you the power that destroyed your precious friends!"

Darkrai was on him again and punched Xeno in the head. The clone took little damage and quickly countered by grabbing Darkrai and summoning many spheres around himself. From the spheres he fired purple and black beams all at Darkrai, who countered by creating black holes to absorb them.

Xeno had made a fatal error by grabbing Darkrai- he immediately began to feel himself becoming wrapped in a nightmare. He threw Darkrai to the ground before the full effects were realized, and summoned a wave of dark matter to attack.

Darkrai zoomed around so fast that Xeno could hardly keep track of where he was, so the dark purple psychic fired a couple Thunder Waves onto the floor, and sure enough, his opponent was caught in one.

"Infinite Darkness." Xeno surrounded Darkrai with a wave of dark matter, until it formed a complete sphere "Infinite Darkness Collapse!"

The sphere, once the size of a small room, closed in on itself until it was the size of a basketball. The implosion technique should have killed Darkrai.

"Unfortunately, that was a Double Team clone." said a voice behind Xeno. Darkrai punched Xeno in the face once again with a Dark Pulse Punch, then launched a couple Shadow Balls at him for good measure.

Darkrai began zooming around once Xeno dodged his Shadow Balls. The two began at it again with punches and kicks filled with Dark matter. Though Darkrai was faster, Xeno had more angles from which he could attack. For a solid minute they tried to pound each other with whatever they had.

Finally it culminated to them hitting each other and sending each other back. Instantly they both got up, Darkrai charged with darkness energy, and Xeno charged with his own darkness.

"Dark Pulse Punch!"

"Never-Ending Night!"

The two empowered fists collided with each the opposite Pokemon's head, each one dealing tremendous damage and sending multitudes of energy in every direction. Meloetta had never seen a blow so fierce before.

In the end however, Xeno had the stronger defenses. Darkrai collapsed, panting from such a cataclysmic blow.

"You… you cannot win!" Xeno panted.

"Eat me." Darkrai rebelliously declared. Xeno, who honestly had enough of him at this point, ripped off his cloak.

"As you wish." Everyone, even Mewthree was horrified to see a giant gaping mouth on Xeno's back. From it, four tongues shot out of it and attached themselves to Darkrai.

"No!" Deoxys shouted, but was held back by Cresselia. As Darkrai struggled to free himself, Xeno held Darkrai up and promptly forced him inside his back mouth and swallowed him whole. His mouth closed, and some of Xeno's wounds were healed.

"There. This is what happens when you try to defy logic." Xeno said dangerously.

Meloetta was completely horrified by the ordeal. The rest of Calestia began to sweat with fear. Their one hope at victory was gone, and Darkrai was…

"No one panic." Cresselia said softly to her team, "Did you really think Darkrai would lose so easily?

This is part of the plan."

At this, everyone's eyes opened wide "Plan!? What plan!?"

"Didn't you forget our objective?" Cresselia faintly smiled, "We need to get Mewtwo back. Darkrai just completed phase one. Now we need phase two."

"What's phase two?" Malispite asked, even though he didn't even understand phase one.

"We need time. We need to stall Xeno." said their leader, "Which means we need someone who is uninjured to attack him…"

She turned to Gardevoir, who was sleeping on the ground "…what is she doing?"

"Uh…" Cresselia promptly pecked Gardevoir's noggin, and she woke up like normal, asking what was going on.

"Well, Mewtwo got eaten so therefore I had Darkrai get eaten but now we need to distract him so that we can win." said Cresselia.

Gardevoir: "…Can you explain that in a way that makes more sense?"

However, her auditory memory picked up the words 'Darkrai was eaten'. Before she could yell out in fear, Cresselia shushed her up, telling Gardevoir that the only way to save Darkrai was for her to fight Xeno. Gardevoir took this offer without hesitation.

"Hit him in the stomach as many times as you can!"

Gardevoir raced towards the dark purple psychic. Thunder Waves in her hand, she threw them at Xeno hoping to catch him. Xeno easily dodged the two Thunder Waves and responded with an Infinite Darkness attack.

The green haired psychic launched her own Psychic to block it, and using that and Light Screen managed to ward off the damage. Xeno tried a new tactic- trying to hit her with five Endless Waves at the same time. Gardevoir, having nowhere to run, tried to activate her light powers.

"Photon Stream…!"

In an instant Gardevoir closed the gap between herself and Xeno. She hit him in the gut with a Shadow Ball attack at point blank range, causing Xeno to fumble. Undaunted, he tried to retaliate when he saw electricity shooting in his body, preventing him from moving.

"Shadow Ball and Psychic!" Gardevoir combined a Shadow Ball with a Psychic Force behind it, making the Shadow Ball hit the four eyed villain, again in the gut, for enhanced damage.

"You…!" Xeno, having enough of these games, flung himself at her and chocked her neck while darkness swirled to sever the rest of her body "You, you have no chance! You never did you insolent girl!"

Gardevoir tried to resist his darkness empowered choke with her psychic powers, slowly becoming unable to breathe "I'll snap your neck and implode your body! This is the only logical punishment for-"

And then Xeno lost all hearing, replaced with a shrill whine. He paused for a brief second, and that happened to be the last second his sanity remained intact.

The proud Xeno began screaming his lungs off. No longer holding Gardevoir, he was on his knees, clutching his head while both his real mouth and monster mouth yelled in terror, yelling so hard that blood trickled down his mouth.

"What the-?!" Mercifond gaped at this unholy sight "What's going on!?"

"Xeno!" Mewthree yelled, "Xeno!"

"Wait… I get it now…!" Gliscor had caught onto Cresselia's plan "Xeno ate Darkrai!"

"What does that have to do with-" Gallade paused. He then understood.

"If anyone even touches Darkrai, they'll be infected with nightmares! And since Xeno ate him, that means Darkrai's entire body is in contact with Xeno's! So now he's in the greatest nightmare of all!"

"Bingo." smirked Cresselia, " And here's another fun fact: now Xeno has no control over his bowels.

Gardevoir! Pound his stomach!"

Gardevoir did so immediately and without remorse. As Xeno continued to scream, Gardevoir continued to attack the same spot on his white stomach again and again. Cresselia's plan began to take effect almost immediately- from the first hit she saw a few black fingers. More hits later, and Darkrai's hand was free. Soon, his head emerged from Xeno's back

"I've got him!"

Meloetta, seizing her chance, used her psychic powers to pull out Darkrai, clutching Mewtwo in his other arm. With Gardevoir hammering Xeno from one side, and the Unovan princess pulling from the other, Xeno's digestive tracks never stood a chance.

Darkrai was pulled out, as well as Mewtwo, who was gravely injured but nonetheless still alive.

The nightmares immediately ceased, but Xeno fell over anyway, having just upchucked two powerful Pokemon and taken a beating without rest.

"It's…" Mercifond gasped

"It's Mewtwo!" despite her injuries Deoxys ran over and hugged the sleeping legendary. Meloetta was relieved as well, using a Heal Bell attack to help them recover.

"How…" Xeno ran the calculations through his head. Here he was, the man destined to defeat Absolix, lying at the mercy of common Pokemon "How…" how was this possible?

"Well, it looks like their done over there." Victini said weakly, almost fainted due to the poison and leech seed combination.

"I'm surprised he lost." Celebi stated, "No matter. After I'm done with you two, I'll just kill them all regardless. Unless you have a plan to defeat me?" she added ironically.

"Actually we do." Ho-oh grinned, "See, Victini and I, we're more power types. We don't do much in the way of complexities like your time travel. So basically, we're going to say screw strategy and hit you as hard as we can."

"…you're joking."

"Nope."

Ho-oh unleashed a Sacred Fire so large that virtually no Celebi in the present could withstand it. They all teleported backwards and forwards through time, warning each other and helping each other out to avoid the continuous flame from the phoenix.

"You fool! You're just burning energy-" said a Celebi

"-While I'm dodging everything-" continued another

"-you can throw! Just give up and accept-"

From a time portal emerged Victini, who was clutching a Celebi with his bare hands. Celebi realized what was happening and tried to warp away, by the present Victini grabbed her since she was distracted by Ho-oh's flames.

Victini in the present clutched the one and only remaining Celebi- as long as he gripped her, she would have to travel through time with him attached.

"I've got you now." Victini smiled "And now I'll hit you as hard as I can and hope it works."

Akin to Ho-oh's Sacred Fire, Victini unleashed a massive Searing Shot attack that blanketed the area in flames. Celebi did try to time travel, but Victini held on tightly and she was hurt anyway. The fire singed her grassy skin and she cried in pain for the first time in a long while.

It was actually so Powerful he burned away the seal and Leech Seed while he torched Celebi. When it was over, the grass pixie was covered in ash, and she could barely move.

"Good!" smiled Victini, "I think we did it, Ho-oh!"

Victini collapsed due to the poison damage he received. The two groups merged together, treating injuries and ailments alike as best they could. It seemed as though the only one who wasn't injured was Darkrai, who instead walked over to Absolix.

"Alright, since Ho-oh and Victini already beat Celebi… it's your turn Absolix!" he declared, much to everyone's astonishment.

"Hold that thought." said the fallen angel. Instantly, he warped to Celebi and picked her up.

"How could I lose against…!?" she coughed, gravely hurting.

"Well quite frankly, you were overconfident my dear. After all, you could have used the Leech Seed and Toxic on Ho-oh when you first encountered him. Without Ho-oh, Victini would have never figured that he could travel with you by grabbing you."

Celebi paused, feeling guilty.

"Try not to underestimate your opponents." Absolix immediately warped Clear Bell away to Cascade City. Darkrai looked onto him while he warped back in, but decided Absolix could wait another day "Meh, you aren't worth it…"

"Darkrai!" Gardevoir shouted, happy to see him back. Unfortunately, as she got near him he used Dark Void to warp further away. Gardevoir, confused, turned her head to the solemn Darkrai.

"My nightmare powers have increased." Darkrai said sadly, "Just don't come within a meter of me and you'll be good."

Gardevoir stopped walking. He really meant it. The two stared at each other for a couple seconds "Darkrai…"

"HOW!?"

A sudden shout from Xeno interrupted their conversation. He was still gravely injured, but had at least gotten to his knees "HOW IS IT POSSIBLE!? IT ISN'T LOGICAL THAT I LOSE YOU!" he pointed at their group.

"Xeno, it's okay!" Mewthree, who had also gotten up said, "We can-"

"I've run all the calculations… ran every single one…! It isn't possible that I lose! It's not logical! Why isn't it logical!?" he couldn't hear Mewthree through his own crazy rant.

"Dude, just give it up." Gliscor said to him, but Xeno would have none of it.

"I don't understand…! How…!? How…!?" he clutched his head in anger.

And then, right behind him, there appeared a black and red fox creature. No one except Cresselia recognized him.

"You don't understand?" repeated the man.

"Zoroark!" Cresselia yelled.

"It isn't logical?" Zoroark repeated to Xeno, leaning in his ear.

"What the!? What are you doing here!?" Ho-oh shouted in rage. Zoroark shifted his eyes momentarily.

"I am doing what I always do." he grinned, "I am causing chaos."

He turned back to Xeno, everyone else put their guard up "Now Xeno, you say you've ran every single calculation? And yet it simply isn't logical that you were beaten?"

"Yes…!" Xeno answered, half awake. The other tensed, wondering what he was up to.

"Well then the answer should be clear!" chuckled the monster fox Pokemon, "It simply isn't logical that you've lost! And anything illogical doesn't exist, right? Therefore…"

He turned to face "…they… shouldn't exist. Right?"

Xeno paused, his eyes opened wide.

"That's right Xeno. They shouldn't exist. And yet they do. It defies all logic and reasoning! Therefore you know what has to be done:

You have to get rid of them. Erase them completely. Then there will be logic again."

Xeno's eyes lost their pupils. It made perfect sense. It had to make perfect sense, and Xeno have to make it make perfect sense. As Zoroark grinned, Xeno's back mouth opened wide and the chaos Zoroark spoke of broke loose.

His mouth tore open a vortex of darkness which began absorbing everything it could, rocks, moss, pillars, the sky, everything and anything was sucked into Xeno's gaping maw, while he stood back up and roared an unholy screech.

Dark matter surrounded him, cloaked him in the darkness. His belly moved upward until there was a thin white strike vertical across his body. The vortex vanished and four tongues emerges from his mouth, bigger than ever. They warped themselves into claws in a split second.

The dark matter surrounded the man culminated at his head, wherein he grasped it and tied it like a cloth around his head, obscuring all four of his eyes while his red ankle and wrist symbols glowed brightly. Turning towards the heavens, he screamed and caused a shockwave of darkness to envelope the room.

"I AM LOGIC ITSELF!" declared Xeno in a mad voice, "ANYTHING ILLOGICAL MUST BE ELIMINATED! EIMINATED! ELIMINATED!

DARKRAI WILL BE ELIMINATED!"

The next second his hand was inside Darkrai's chest. The blood poured out of him like crazy, and Xeno tossed his limp body aside as if it were nothing.

Darkrai could barely hear the screams.


	14. Xenophobia V

Gin had only seen this once before. He managed to stop Xeno in time before he did any real damage, but even still his power in this strange forme was overwhelming compared to normal Pokemon.

Giovanni described it like this: Xeno's brain was actually incredibly unstable for whatever reason, ever since he was born. However, they had him go through therapy constantly and as a result managed to curb his insanity by him relating everything to being logical.

However when something didn't make sense, and in an extreme way, he lost it and reverted to this primal state.

The "Devour" forme. In it, Xeno had the capability to absorb air particles and convert them directly to energy. It wasn't just air though- his monstrous mouth was constantly open in this state, so anything that landed in it would do.

As expected, in this forme Xeno lost all sense of rationality. This was evident by him calling Darkrai an illogical existence. And then stabbing him directly in the heart, laughing like a maniac afterwards.

Gin knew that he wasn't allowed to use his powers in public, for he was their 'secret weapon'. And thus, Gin could not physically stop Xeno this time.

He would just have to wait patiently until the enraged psychic destroyed everything in sight. He'd be back to normal by then.

* * *

><p><em>PREVIOUSLY ON LEGENDARY PKMN…<em>

_"I…I'll kill you…! ABSOLIX!"_

_"I am Clear Bell. I am the traitor whom Arceus foolishly trusted."_

_"With me on your side, we should be done in about five minutes."_

_""I AM LOGIC ITSELF! ANYTHING ILLOGICAL MUST BE ELIMINATED! EIMINATED! ELIMINATED!_

_DARKRAI WILL BE ELIMINATED!"_

* * *

><p>Chapter fifty: <strong>Xenophobia<strong> (Act Five- The Ultimate Enemy)

* * *

><p>It took less than a second for Xeno dispatch of Darkrai. With great speed, he rammed his own fist into Darkrai's center- taking out a portion of his heart with one attack.<p>

The first thing they comprehended was the blood. There was a lot of it. Too much, far too much. Then they perceived that Xeno had killed their friend, and tossed him aside like a broken toy, while screaming in a primal voice of twisted satisfaction.

When Darkrai hit the ground, Gardevoir lost it. Well, they all lost it, but Gardevoir's was the most visible. Screaming at the top of her lungs, her eyes turned blue and became concentric, she summoned green light in the form of swords and violently attacked Xeno with all she had. Xeno, who had lost all reasoning by this point, met her own screams and tears with laughter and anger.

Even though their battle transcended anything previous, it was outright ignored by the horrified Pokemon who called themselves Darkrai's friends.

"DARKRAI!" screamed his sister, rushing over to his side, along with several others. Darkrai did not respond. He did not even twitch, and was so weak that his nightmare powers became ineffective altogether.

"Seal the wound! Seal the wound!" cried Cresselia desperately. This was done in a matter of seconds thanks to a couple seals from herself and Virizion, psychic powers supplied by Deoxys and Meloetta, as well as some grass Cobalion and Terrakion found.

But it wasn't enough. No, the real problem lay that his heart had been ruptured. Darkrai was either about to die, or had already died, this much was certain. They needed a way to repair his damaged vital organ; Cresselia estimated that as long as her brother was not yet in the Distortion World, he had at most two or three minutes to live.

"Does anyone have healing moves?! Anyone!? Please!" cried Cresselia. Only Mercifond had a healing move, her Angel's defense. But while it restored her own health by a lot, it only just barely affected those around her, not nearly enough to heal something as great as half a heart.

Cresselia tuned out the noises of Gardevoir and Xeno fighting. Her mind raced to think of something, anything that could be used to revive her fallen brother. The others were doing the same, and even Malispite, helpless as he was, tried to bring Darkrai back by yelling for him.

Then finally, something clicked in Deoxys' brain. There was someone here who could help them. He was standing directly behind him, tensely watching Gardevoir and Xeno fight.

"Absolix." said Deoxys, and a few gazes looked up at her "…You can heal Darkrai, right!?"

The great class Five, the monstrosity known as Absolix, looked at her with amusement despite his frown "…I could." said the fallen angel, "But why should I bother? We are on opposite sides mind you, and this is your problem. Not mine."

"What would it take for you to heal him!?" Deoxys immediately gasped. Absolix stared at her coldly, a small grin formed on his face.

"Swear your allegiance to me. All of you, even Ho-oh and Darkrai. Swear that you will aid me in my quest to destroy the Legendary Council."

Deoxys gaped, feeling herself become cold.

"I will gladly heal him then."

* * *

><p>Gardevoir hardly felt anything except unimaginable pain. She could barely remember why she felt like this, but every time she remembered the tears only came out harder. All she could think about was the man in front of her, yelling like a crazed maniac. He was the one who did this to her. Who took something precious from her.<p>

Thousands of light swords impacted against a riverbed of dark matter. Gardevoir yelled, feeling tears in her mouth, and struck with all she had. Xeno dodged effortlessly and pummeled her into the ground with a high powered double fist surrounded by darkness.

The strength of his move caused Gardevoir's spine to break into pieces, the impact made a crater and broke even more bones. Yet as quickly as the injuries were inflicted, the green haired psychic automatically healed herself back to perfect form and charged again, this time slashing Xeno's side.

Xeno gave a roar, but also recovered by taking in rock and converting it to energy, then using that energy to make the ugly gash disappear.

And so the battle of monsters went, neither could die, and neither would give up. One fought for all that he stood for, the very essence of reality itself. The other fought for what she had lost, even if she could not remember what it was.

Their battle was almost too painful to look at.

* * *

><p>Ho-oh was cold stiff. Part of the reason he was like that was because his injuries allowed for minimal movement. But the other reason was that he had just witnessed something incredible: a psychic Pokemon using light type moves.<p>

And it was Gardevoir no less.

However, that was the least frightening thing about her. For the longer he watched, the more certain he became of a horrifying fact, an impossibility that could very well shake the world.

"This can't be…" Ho-oh whispered "Gardevoir… her energy… it's the exact same as Absolix's! Her individual aura completely matches his own!"

It was at this did Absolix act. Almost as fast as light itself, he placed a concussive punch to Ho-oh's head, knocking him out. He then attached a memory wiping seal to the phoenixes neck.

"Looks like you found something you shouldn't have…" said Absolix in a low voice, "Unfortunately I need to keep my trump card a secret for just a bit longer… so I'll have you sleep for a bit. And when you wake up, your concerns will be long gone."

Meters away, the clock raced against Darkrai and his grave injury. Cresselia had Mercifond use her Angel's Defence anyway- despite its incredibly limited healing capabilities, it was still better than nothing.

Cresselia raced for a possible solution. She tried to remain calm, but it was hard with the pressure of knowing that her brother might die if she failed. Tensely she looked back at Ho-oh; he was unconscious, his injuries probably too great for him. Victini was in the same boat, so that ruled out all adult figures.

Could she use Legend Signal? No, even if she knew the right combination of seals nobody could arrive in time. What about… what about…!

Wait.

Mercifond's secondary healing effect. It was weak right now, but it was still caused by a Move. Therefore, the stronger Mercifond became, the more proficient that Move would become in every aspect, including the secondary healing effect. If she could give Mercifond more energy… that could heal Darkrai. But how? The amount of raw energy the white bat would have to intake would be so incredibly large-

"Cresselia…" Deoxys interrupted her thoughts, "Absolix. He… he says-"

"I know what he said." Cresselia had already overheard, "We are not going to rely on the enemy for salvation Deoxys. As your leader I command you: Do not lose hope." she gazed at the Ribonian fiercely.

"We can do this, we can do this." Cresselia repeated, looking up, "I am the daughter of the Current God, and I swear my brother will come out of this alive! We just need some-"

Cresselia paused for a second, still looking up "…why is there a hole in the roof?"

Meloetta and Deoxys gazed up, indeed the roof was slowly deteriorating. Meloetta shot Cresselia a look "So the roof being broken, I don't think that matters-"

"No no, that can't be right!" Cresselia gazed harder, "This place was designed to contain Regigigas remember? Why would mother bother putting a hole in the middle of his tomb, he should be surrounded by an incredibly powerful-"

And then Cresselia saw it. Everything clicked into place "That's it." she gaped, "That's it!"

"What, what is it?" Malispite asked. Cresselia whipped around to find Virizion, asking him how much he knew about sealing. After a quick interrogation, she saw that Virizion had enough experience to help her.

"What we need to do is make Mercifond more powerful, that is, give her more energy. That will make her Angel's Defence strong enough to heal Darkrai." the swan explained,

"And we will get all of that energy… from the broken seal my mother placed on Regigigas!"

Cresselia could see the seal using some of her own eye seals. It was slowly deteriorating, but there was still a giant meshwork of invisible lines and angles still ready for use. She and Virizion would alter the seal- find a way to restructure it so that it devoted all of its remaining power to Mercifond.

And since the seal had originally been designed to contain a class Five, that meant the amount of energy stored in it was enormous, broken or not.

Virizion and Cresselia began to work immediately with their seal code writing. The rest, the remaining two muskadeers, Malispite, Gliscor, Meloetta and Deoxys had to wait patiently, instead turning their eyes to the battle with Xeno and Gardevoir.

Meanwhile the fallen angel Absolix smiled at Cresselia's quick wit. He had already thought of that in the first place but they were still enemies so why bother telling them? Nonetheless, she figured it out anyway, so he silently applauded her effort.

Still, he was nervous for some reason. Turning his attention to his idiotic apprentice, Mewthree, he saw she was struggling to get back up and help Xeno, despite his current unusual demeanor.

Speaking of, the fight with the man in question and Gardevoir was tearing up the entire complex with their vicious brawl. They looked to be evenly matched, but Absolix would be able to take Gardevoir away should things get messy. Now that he thought about it, leaving her with these teenagers was hardly a smart move, it was better to take her away now and imprison her until the appropriate time arrived.

This was well and good, but something was still on the back of his mind, knowing at him. The yellow and white humanoid flicked his tail in annoyance. Yes, he was forgetting something important. But what?

It wasn't Gardevoir, nor was it his apprentice… what about the one who was shot down, Darkrai?

He then realized two important things. One, that the human Gin was suddenly gone and off his radar. And two, that he remembered Ho-oh murmuring something about Regigigas being Darkrai's friend.

He looked up and saw that the monstrosity was no longer sitting. In fact, he was walking. Right in Xeno's general direction.

A quick glance told him everything- he had been disturbed because Giga was concentrating his energy and causing it to rise. His aura in fact, was visible, being a golden yellow color. The color hardly matched his mood though, Absolix could tell Giga was angry. And he knew who with.

Beginning to sweat, Absolix took the unconscious Celebi, warped over to Mewthree and healed her on the spot "Get up, we're leaving immediately!"

Mewthree did get up, but flew over to Xeno. Absolix uttered a curse and used his power to drag Mewthree back to him "You don't seem to understand our situation so I will explain it as quickly as possible:

Giga was Darkrai's friend. Thanks to your little boyfriend over there, said dark type is on death's door." hissed the fallen angel "Giga is right now, for lack of a better phrase, pissed off to the extreme. Remember that myth of him pulling continents? It's not that much of a stretch.

One punch from him will blow us all to kingdom come. And he is about to do that to Xeno."

Sure enough Regigigas marched slowly forward, malice in his eight black eyes and determination to kill apparent. His right arm was cloaked in a white and yellow aura, growing bigger by the second.

Mewthree immediately gaped and freed herself from Absolix "Can't you stop him!?"

"As strong as Giga is, that isn't his primary ability." said Absolix, "No, his real ability is far more fearsome: if he initiates an attack, nothing can stop it. Literally, I've tried and have not succeeded yet. The only options you have while facing him are to dodge or get hit."

The pink psychic was horrified that there existed such an ability. She turned towards Xeno, her love now a raging maniac. Fear in multiple ways brimmed her normally stoic mind.

"…what do we need to do?" she asked hesitantly. Absolix looked over at Gardevoir "We'll warp back to Cascade City. I can't perform long distance teleportation, and going into another dimension will spare us from his wrath. If you will hold Celebi, I will retrieve Gardevoir, being that she is important in my plans..."

"I want to take Xeno with us." Mewthree stated firmly. Absolix twitched at this, looking at her straight in the eyes, almost angry. The naivety of her youth was finally showing.

"He'll die if what you say is true right!? I won't let that happen! Just give me some time to convince him to come with us!"

Absolix had been frowning a lot lately, and now was no exception. He stared into his naïve apprentice's eyes, which were determined to take any risks necessary to save her beloved. He gazed back at his friend Giga, now so enraged that calming him down wasn't an option.

"…you have one minute. Then I warp us all whether you like it or not."

* * *

><p>As Cresselia and Virizion make quick progress on the seal, Mewthree flew towards Gardevoir and Xeno, stopping when she saw she was about to enter their fight area.<p>

Light and dark exchanged blows back and forth, with some psychic power thrown into the mix as well. The battlefield was black and white, ever shifting and ever brutal. Mewthree had one minute to convince her love to come with her.

The question was how could she do that when he was fighting another monstrosity? Mewthree realized the answer lay in her attacking Gardevoir and giving Xeno the upper hand.

She proceeded to do just that and launched five Aura Spheres at Gardevoir, who easily blocked them and launched a couple swords in her direction while dealing with Xeno. The pink psycat dodged these with her amazing speed and managed to get close up to Xeno.

"Xeno, it's me, Mewthree."

Xeno stared at her, a small snarl forming upon his lips, eyes hidden due to the dark matter mask he placed upon himself. For the first time in her life, Mewthree was afraid of him "I-I'm going to help you beat her!" she stammered.

He grinned.

"Will you?" questioned Xeno, "Fine. Distract her for a minute."

Xeno was gone.

Gardevoir was targeting her now, launching Light Vectors in every direction, with a couple Laser Shots thrown into the mix. Her attack range was huge, Mewthree tried her best to dodge everything Gardevoir could throw at her, to buy Xeno the time he needed.

Xeno meanwhile was screaming, racing like a maniac towards a wall. Mewthree placed several shield across herself, but Gardevoir broke through them all with minimal effort, grasping her with a hand made from light and swords pointed at her throat.

Luckily for her, Gardevoir happened to remember it was Xeno she was after, so she let go. But by then it was too late, Mewthree's distraction had been worth it. With a loud cry, Xeno suddenly shot the wall with all the power he had. The wall gave surprising resistance as seals everywhere cropped up, spanning the entire complex.

Gardevoir and Virizion leapt away from their work, the network becoming too unstable. Xeno's power finally proved to great for the seal, that specific section was torn into pieces, the wall itself crumbled away to nothing.

It took Cresselia a few moments to realize what he had just done.

"It can't be…" Cresselia gaped. The distant Xeno turned to her, grinning like a maniac "He.. He destroyed the containment section…"

"The what!?" shouted Malispite.

"He destroyed the section that coded for energy storage! It's leaking out uncontrollably now and we can't harness it!" screamed Cresselia at the top of her lungs.

"That's right…!" said Xeno, dodging Gardevoir's attack by warping next to her, "I saw what you did… I SAW… I saw what you WERE TRYING TO DO! AND IT WON'T WORK BECAUSE I AM LOGIC ITSELF!"

Again he dodged Gardevoir's attack, which accidentally was sent flying in the direction of the group. Luckily Malispite and the others were able to fend it off. Gardevoir appeared next to them, but her intent was on Xeno.

Xeno himself was standing next to Mewthree. Mewthree couldn't help but feel sorry for them, but she still congratulated her love "We did it! We did-"

Xeno's hand shot through Mewthree's midsection. As Absolix cried out, warping her to his side, Xeno chuckled to himself "You can't fool me… illogical existences must be eliminated!"

"You… you even…!" Malispite couldn't believe Xeno had actually tried hurting his comrade. Absolix, with Mewthree at his side, patched her up in no time despite the grievous wound. He stared at her coldly, for once completely serious.

"We're leaving!" Absolix shouted to Mewthree, but she furiously held on tight. The dimensional gateway sucked in Celebi, but Mewthree anchored herself to the earth with psychic power. Absolix tore herself from it, yelling madly "We need to leave!"

"No! I…I…!" Mewthree shouted. A flash of Xeno's hand through her chest appeared, causing her to convulse and even vomit a little. Tears were in her eyes as she struggled to hang on- she wept because she realized an undeniable fact: Xeno utterly terrified her, but she still loved him.

It was the most twisted thing she had ever experienced, the act of her conscious mind and physical being finding the creature utterly revolting, yet still programmed to unconditionally love him. Absolix too realized this, remarking on how well of a job Giovanni did.

A shadow fell upon Xeno. He immediately attacked Giga, but it barely even phased him. Slowly, Regigigas' hand came up and formed a fist. It was now or never.

"There is no other option!" Absolix said in fear, the true power of the world's strongest Pokemon about to be unleashed "Gardevoir, come to me!"

Gardevoir immediately obeyed. But just before she crossed the halfway point to Absolix, a black hand stopped her. The sole black hand caused Gardevoir to cease moving, lips trembling with unknown emotion.

"Oh no you freaking don't."

The world seemed to stop. Giga stood there, frozen in time, fist still ready to cause an island to be wiped off the map but too shocked to move. Cresselia and Virizion, side by side, had their mouths open in gape, with a tear or two running down Cresselia's yellow beak. Absolix and Mewthree stared as well, they too caught by the frozen time.

Only Xeno was left unaltered. He shook with rage and exclaimed at the top of his lungs "IMPOSSIBLE!"

Gardevoir knew the voice well. She turned around and was instantly caught up in the mother of all nightmares. Darkrai raised his head off hers, and gently sat her down next to his friends.

"Sorry." he said to them "I figured that was the only way to knock her out…"

"IMPOSSIBLE!" screamed Xeno, an effort that surely would have broken his vocal chords "YOU CAN'T BE ALIVE! I KILLED YOU!"

Darkrai stood there, his very existence defying reality as he floated in the middle of the complex completely and utterly unharmed. Even his wrappings were gone, and the wound in his chest had all but disappeared.

Absolix, who had seen more strange sights than anyone, could not help but be in awe at this strange event "How on earth…!?"

Darkrai turned to him angrily, "Stay right there Absolix!" he shouted, "I'll deal with you in a second!"

Before anyone could question Darkrai's insane proposal to the class Five, Xeno was on the offensive. His four tongue-claws slash and hacked their way across Darkrai's body in a vicious assault combined with dark matter in an intricate dance of chaos. The ground ruptured, the air was torn apart and the shockwaves reached everyone, still meters away.

The prince of darkness blocked them all with a single hand, not even moving from his position.

As Xeno gritted his teeth out of anger, Darkrai leaned towards him, Xeno powerless to stop the prince of darkness. Slowly he said "Ironically, striking me in the heart was your biggest mistake."

There was a punch from Darkrai. A single, Dark Pulse infused blow that landed squarely on Xeno's jaw. The impact was massive, and caused him and all four tongues of his to fly back into the opposing wall in a defeating explosion that nearly broke it. Xeno yelled in pain. The rest gaped at Darkrai's proficiency.

_"How? He was on deaths door mere moments ago! And yet how does he have the skill to subdue an empowered Xeno!?"_ Absolix was wide eyed with an unknown feeling. By all means, Darkrai should not be alive, nor this strong. And yet, here he was.

Darkrai turned to face Regigigas, still frozen in place. The white and gold titan was faced with his companion, who said "Sorry for making you worry. But I'm fine now."

The energy around the Worlds Strongest Legendary slowly faded. Giga sat back down to observe the fight. At this, Xeno pried himself from the wall, and ripped off his darkness mask, once more revealing his four red eyes, which now seethed with rage beyond any comprehension "I KILLED YOU!" he screamed, small droplets of blood escaping from his mouth "I KILLED YOU! YOU ARE ILLOGICAL AND I KILLED YOU! WHY ARE YOU ALIVE!?"

Darkrai faced Xeno once again. In a quiet and strange tone, he smirked back at Xeno and spoke

"When you tore through my chest like that… the damage was actually so great it finally removed Dunsparce's seal on me. So now… I can finally use my full power."

Darkrai gave them all a taste of his full power. A pure black halo surrounded his body, and the rest could feel his tremendous, horrid energy filling the room. His nightmare powers were once again in effect, Ho-oh began convulsing in his sleep, as well as Mewtwo. Xeno, whose mind was already disturbed, was also affected by his Bad Dreams ability. The dark colored psychic began to sweat and even hallucinate a little from his power.

"This is the real me." smiled Darkrai "Horrifying, isn't it?"

* * *

><p><em>Darkrai landed inside his own mind. At first, he questioned why he was even there, and then he remembered a gruesome image of a foreign hand inside his chest. The prince of darkness looked down disdainfully. He had died.<em>

_No. Wait. Maybe not._

_"You damn idiot." a voice said behind him. Darkrai casually turned around, where he saw Asmodeus, his long white hair drifting in the air "You got yourself killed again. And now I'm out of a body, so thanks a lot."_

_"First off." Darkrai felt his temper rising "This is MY body. End of story. And second, I'm not dead yet."_

_"Yeah you will be in two minutes." said the dark type disdainfully._

_"Bingo." said Darkrai, "So I have time to fix this."_

_"Fix this!?" laughed Asmodeus, the previous darkrai "How the HELL are YOU going to fix being not dead!?"_

_"Teach me how to use Horror."_

_Asmodeus was surprised Darkrai even knew about that. The prince of darkness said it was because he could hear Asmodeus in his sleep sometimes, and sometimes portions of his memories came through to him._

_"I saw you do it once. Turning illusions into reality- you called it Horror." pointed Darkrai "It can turn any illusion real right? Teach me how to use it, then I'll heal myself like that."_

_Asmodeus had a frown on his face, contemplating "Say you actually could use my signature move. What then? You still lack the necessary power to-"_

_Darkrai's energy suddenly filled the room, it was much greater than before. Without the seal to hinder him any longer, his massive Energy Potential was more than enough to use the move._

_Asmodeus grinned broadly, and evilly "Alright then. I suppose I can try."_

* * *

><p>"YOU CAN'T BE ALIVE!" Xeno continued to scream. He launched an entire ocean of dark matter at Darkrai. Without even blinking, the man summoned several Dark Voids and sucked the dark matter away without a sweat.<p>

Victini's training had really come through for him- during the two weeks he spent with the fire rabbit, only two things had been drilled into his mind. One: That he and Victini had similar fighting styles, and that Darkrai was more suited to be fast than strong. And two, that Darkrai needed to work on controlling his EP, and making a more efficient use of it.

Now, Darkrai could use less energy to do more attacks than ever. And, he was faster than ever before despite not increasing his power level by a single point. As Victini pointed out earlier, increasing his power level was hardly necessary at this stage of training.

He already had an average of 99,000. It was better to work on the other two things.

Darkrai was on Xeno before he even knew it. He punched Xeno back into the wall and fired several large Ice Beams to freeze the guy. Xeno was hit, but did not freeze. Using his mouth, he absorbed more material from the air and healed his wounds instantly, then fired several Endless Waves at Darkrai.

The prince of darkness did not even falter, summoning black holes to take away his power, then going back in and striking Xeno with twin Dark Pulse Punches. Darkrai then zoomed back a ways to build up speed as the insane logical Pokemon summoned every attack his had in copious amounts to strike Darkrai.

With a roar, Darkrai built up speed and centrifugal force, spinning while punching to create a maelstrom of furious blows, each infused with darkness energy and propelled by a Dark Pulse. Now in a physical whirlwind of power, he blew Xeno's attacks away and began hitting him over and over again, each blow cascading through every pore of his body. Each physical blow was enough to shatter five feet of concrete, and Darkrai was slewing them at a rate of ten per second.

Darkrai slammed into Xeno so hard he never even stood a chance. The man was soon at the mercy of Darkrai, torn between the wall and his punches. The wall eventually gave into Xeno's body being pressed to hard against it.

Darkrai ceased his attack. Xeno stood back up, enraged beyond all measure and absorbing more matter into his body to heal his wounds. Darkrai however, slammed his empty palm into Xeno's forehead, deciding to end this.

From Darkrai's hand shadows burst forth from every direction. Each tangible dark mass was brimming with eyes and mouths, all cackling and squinting at Xeno. The shadows continued to burst forth until they formed the shape of a giant, open hand that overshadowed Xeno's terrified body.

"Take this!" Darkrai shouted, straining from the effort, "Apocalypse!"

The giant hand clasped around Xeno and sent a small shockwave ring of darkness in every direction. When the dust finally settled, they all saw Darkrai still standing, casually holding up a defeated and weakened Xeno.

Apocalypse, a small miniaturized version of Cataclysm. Though less potent than the original, it was still a deadly attack.

Seeing Mewthree, he threw Xeno's unconscious and nightmare plagued body in her direction. Then, Darkrai began looking around for something. Suddenly, he fired and Ice Beam in a seemingly random direction. But when the Ice Beam hit, Zoroark was forced to dodge and dispel his illusion.

Darkrai glared at the monster fox, who grimaced back "You're next." he declared "After I beat Absolix- once and for all!"

The fallen angel was still in shock that Darkrai could even move, must less defeat him in battle. Nonetheless, he was amused. Smile back on his face, he stepped forwards a ways and summoned some light swords "So, Darkrai. You think that just because you can defeat a fourth rate clone of myself, that gives you the power to stop-"

Darkrai slammed his fist into Absolix faster than anyone thought possible. Even Absolix figured he couldn't move that fast, but here Darkrai was. However, Darkrai then used his momentum to punch Absolix again sending him in a different direction. He did this again and again a total of size times until he slammed Absolix's body into the dirt and making yet another new crater upon impact.

All of this occurred in less than two seconds.

Shock and awe was upon everyone's face. For the first time since they knew, someone had actually HIT Absolix. Darkrai, already sped away from the crater, goaded on the fallen angel, who felt his own blood for the first time in ages.

"This can't be it can it!?" Darkrai shouted "Come on Absolix! Give me your full power- if you don't take me seriously I will destroy you here and now for Gardevoir's sake!"

Absolix stood back up.

He had the biggest smile on his face. His eyes were widened with excitement as he gazed upon Darkrai. Soon, a small chuckle escaped his lips. As he began to be surrounded by a yellow aura, the chuckled turned into a laugh, which only escalated along with his ever increasing power.

Inside his own mind, the other six personalities knew that Sigma had lost it. But the strange thing was, he was losing it in a good way. Their own thoughts began unclear and uncertain, and they did not know what was happening until Epsilon and Theta vanished.

* * *

><p>The three legendary beasts of Johto had gotten the message to aid Calestia- they ran as fast as they could towards the Hippowdon Temple, now without even a sandstorm due to the local hippowdon leaving the area out of fear.<p>

"What do you think will happen when we get there!?" Raikou asked, the Temple in sight. Entei did not know, Suicune merely replied that they may have to face regigigas- but that they would succeed with sheer numbers.

And then, they saw the light. It was a huge beacon of pure white energy that burst through the roof of the Temple. Then they felt a gigantic shockwave, waves of air and debris sped past them and caused a miniature vortex which sucked them back before they reached the general premise of the Temple.

By the time the whirlwind had stabilized, they were far away from the temple, and all three beasts had headaches. The light was still there.

Pokemon all over the world twitched, feeling something amiss in the air.

"What the hell was that!?" Entei screamed. But the only reason he screamed was because he knew what is was. This was no attack, this was no seal, it was the mere act of someone unleashing their Energy Potential. And even though they were kilometers away from the source, they could not move an inch without being knocked out.

In the Hall of Origin, Arceus gaped, her eyes wide with fear "Absolix…he…!?"

The Secret Agent's base was abound with activity. Their reading instruments had crashed and it took only their greatest super computer to withstand the might of what they tried to measure.

"Eight hundred and forty nine thousand, six hundred and twenty one." gaped the shadowed figure of agent Neon, their leader, "You've got to be kidding me… how can he be this strong!? And moreover…who the hell is Absolix fighting!?"

* * *

><p>A shield was up around Mewthree. It was a good thing too, she knew first hand she would have been knocked out otherwise. Absolix had finally unleashed his true power.<p>

As a testament, he was in a different form than usual. His horns were longer, and more side horns appeared in the mid back of his head. He now had a sort of armor around his chest and shoulders. The entirety of his body gained additional yellow glowing symbols, and twin blue wings of light were on his shoulders, soaring upwards to the heavens, which Mewthree now assumed Absolix had complete master of.

His eyes were concentric and golden, and they were delighted.

"…So." smiled Darkrai, "What's with the makeover?"

Absolix smiled "I'm surprised you're even able to talk still. To answer your question, I need to assume this form in order to handle my full power. All class Five's transform, remember?"

"Hmph. Well, whatever." Darkrai said, "Are you ready to do this?"

"You must be the most foolish child in all of existence." Absolix grinned, "You still want to challenge me despite the overwhelming difference in strength? Won't you be reasonable and **fear me for what I am?"**

"I am fear." Darkrai retorted, "And, this was all a part of my plan. You changed into full power, and did exactly what I wanted." he nodded to his friends, all of whom were knocked out by his overwhelming power. Absolix raised an eyebrow

"You wanted me to knock out your friends? That's why you goaded me?"

"Bingo." said the prince of darkness, "I can't let them see this."

Darkrai let go of his illusion, and blood spilled out of his chest. He stuttered a little, but stood back up with a suicidal grin on his face.

"Horror?" Absolix finally saw through his trick.

"Yep…" Darkrai gasped, a small trickle of blood coming out of his mouth "It only lasts as long as I have the energy. So yeah, I guess I'm dead no matter what. So I figured hey, better stop Absolix before I go out."

At this, Absolix smiled "Interesting."

"It's a pity though." Darkrai frowned, summoning energy into his right hand "I'd really just like us to part ways and be friends, but hey, I know you'll still try to take Gardevoir later so…"

"Indeed I will." sighed the fallen angel.

"You know, it's odd though." Darkrai smiled "Every time I see you, I try my best to hate you but…

…

…you always seem like a decent guy to me."

Absolix chuckled a little bit. He summoned some energy into his right hand as well "Oh? Well let me assure you Darkrai, I'm probably the worst, most vile Pokemon in the world. Trust me."

"If you say so." Darkrai had finally completed his ritual. This was his last attack: by forcibly removing the barriers in his mind, Darkrai was going to give Absolix a Cataclysm- the most powerful nightmare attack ever created. It might be enough to destroy him once and for all- but upon impact, Darkrai's brain would be destroyed as well.

To protect his friends, and Gardevoir from Absolix's plan, it was a risk he was willing to take.

"Don't hold back." said Darkrai, "I'd feel bad if you did."

"I won't." smiled Absolix, "Let's go!"

_…_

_The two who walk the paths of night and day._

Mewthree cringed suddenly as another headache filled her brain.

_…soon there will come a time when day and night collide, with the lines between them blurred. A great battle, of secrets, lies, truth, love and hatred shall brew in the midst of these dark times._

_Beware the Escodia, for he watches All. Beware the Escodia, for he plots All._

_The Ultimate Enemy shall be unleashed to maintain the balance. And none will be able to beat him. Not the Savior, and not the Accursed. For he is balance, and balance cannot be beaten. This is truth._

_The Ultimate Enemy must make a choice. And this choice will hold the weight of the entire world in the balance._

_The fate has already been decided. But it can only be changed by the one who dares defy it. Only the One who chooses the Fate may save the world._

Mewthree breathed in deeply

_It began with Destiny  
>And it will end with Destiny.<em>

The vision let go as Mewthree witnessed a cataclysmic power clash between the prince of darkness and the fallen angel. Light and Dark met and intermingled with each other, in an intricate dance of chaos and order.

The blows against each other were so fierce the entire Hippowdon Temple was blow apart from the impact. Watching this event unfold were the three legendary beasts, shocked to see such a massive sphere of power emerge and decimate the temple.

Soon, Darkrai and Absolix were nowhere.

_"…"_

_"…" Absolix merely smiled_

_"…I…" Darkrai said "I get it now…_

_You've been hurt… and that's why…"_

_Absolix merely smiled._

The clash eventually faded. One Pokemon was still standing, the victor. Darkrai lay on the ground, not moving. Absolix smiled down at him; the tenacity of this man was amazing. Amazing enough to make him almost use his full power.

"Yeah, I knew you'd win."

Absolix blinked, turning around to face Victini. The fire rabbit was injured, but still standing. He smiled at Absolix "You held back a lot, I could tell. And yet you've instantly recovered after a blow like that? Dear Arceus, it's not even fair we have to fight you."

"… you were never knocked out?" Absolix smiled. Victini nodded his head. He walked over to his apprentice, a calm look on his face.

"I'd say he did pretty good considering." the fire rabbit smirked, "So Absolix, mind healing up my idiot apprentice?" asked the victory Pokemon nicely.

Absolix chuckled in response "Why would I do that?"

"Reputation." smiled Victini, "See, I'm betting that Darkrai will be able to beat you one day. Therefore, if you don't heal him up, it basically means you're scared that I'm right, and you'll be called a coward from now on."

Absolix laughed out loud, the fallen angel smiling so hard tears came out of his eyes.

He was going to heal Darkrai anyway. In fact, that was the only reasons Darkrai was still alive; Absolix held back his blow and healed him just before the critical moment while neutralizing his nightmare powers with an advanced seal.

This man, who reminded him so much of Asmodeus, was far too interesting to let die.

"Oh, fine. I suppose being called a coward is a much worse fate." The great class Five used his immense power to restore Darkrai's condition. A great light filled Darkrai, and his grave injuries began to vanish. In a few minutes, he was back to normal.

"Thanks!" said Victini. Absolix turned away and gathered Mewthree, opening a hole in reality. Turning back, he saw regigigas, who murmured something intelligible before going into the portal. Mewthree followed.

Absolix turned back to Victini, "When he wakes up, tell him I held back anyway. That will get a good rile out of him for sure."

"Ah, don't leave just yet…" said Victini nervously, "We at the Council are still confused as to why you continued to threaten the world, Absolix. What exactly do you want? World domination?"

Absolix chuckled "I suppose I never did make my demands clear.

Victini, I desire neither world conquest nor world destruction. The reason for my villainy is because I want someone dead. That is all, just one Pokemon dead and I will gladly surrender my entire mission."

"But?" Victini said, knowing there was a catch.

"But, the problem is… the one who I want dead is…Arceus." Absolix said, "My mission is one of revenge. Nothing more, nothing less. Arceus cannot kill me, for I can only be killed by someone righteous, any other way will not do. In turn, Arceus will die by my hands."

At this, he turned to the unconscious Darkrai "So for your own sake, let's hope your little bet works in your favor. From now on, Darkrai shall be my greatest nemesis. The next time I encounter him, I will kill him without hesitation.

Train him well. I look forward to our next encounter."

He vanished long with Mewthree and Giga.

And somewhere, deep inside his mind, Darkrai heard him. Subconsciously he tried to clench his fist while still on Victini's shoulders.

_"Bring it on."_

* * *

><p>"Damn…"<p>

He stood, completely invisible, a ways away from what used to be the Hippowdon Temple. The black and red fox frowned. He did not foresee this.

"To think some no named descendant of Arceus was this strong…" he frowned. But it wasn't just raw power Darkrai had. He had something else, something greater. Something not seen since Absolix was a member of the Legendary Council.

"And that Xeno. Looks like he didn't die though, that one odd human snatched him away before Absolix unleashed his power."

In the corner of his eye, he spotted three legendary beasts dashing towards the ruins.

"Hm. Most curious." Zoroark said to himself, "And the fact that the girl got out of her trance… most curious. I did not foresee this at all.

…

…but no matter. Though the future was not as I predicted, in the end the result was the same. So what if a few more get to live? It will hardly matter in the long run. They and everyone else will be destroyed as planned."

He smiled to himself, a rare moment of satisfaction "Yes… soon! Soon the truth will come to light and all lies will be eliminated! An ideal, perfect world will be created… one without illusions.

And there is absolutely no one… who can stop Escodia."

Zoroark was warped, his cackle still lingering in the empty air.


	15. A Thousand Ships

Chapter fifty one: A Thousand Ships

* * *

><p>When the rest of the Council heard Ho-oh's report, they called him both a liar and a fool. But their accusations were out of bitter tears, from the realization that Celebi- no, Clear Bell- had betrayed them. That in the end, she was the one who brought back Absolix's fearsome team to the present.<p>

Manaphy, a long time friend of hers, was so grief stricken she was barely able to speak. The rest took it varyingly. In the end, they all agreed upon one thing: Clear Bell was their enemy now, whether they liked it or not.

In addition, they received information about Zoroark- the man who killed Latioux, and now was the leader of Disorder 13. He had appeared before Cresselia, and her trauma resurfaced. As this information, Latias left the room. No one knew what she was thinking.

But as Darkrai explained it, it was okay because he would kick Zoroark's ass the next time he saw him.

Finally, Absolix. The most difficult subject to touch on- the three legendary beasts served as a testament to Absolix's raw power. As some already knew, you had to have a relatively high power level to make one's individual aura visible. Absolix's aura outshone the temple and then some.

Also, a separate report conducted by the agents of H.I.D.D.E.N. stated Absolix current measurable Power Level: about 850,000. That kind of energy easily placed him above anything they ever thought possible, even Arceus could merely gape at the numbers. Arceus was no certain that if Absolix wanted to take out the Council, he could do so at literally any time.

But as Darkrai explained it, it was okay because he would kick Absolix's ass the next time he saw him.

"Darkrai don't even think about such things!" his mother warned harshly. Just hearing that Absolix had been in the vicinity of her children had her in a frenzy earlier.

"Pssh. A few more weeks of training and I've got him pegged." said the overconfident dark type "I've already experienced him full power, so I think I've got it covered, mom."

"Actually Absolix held back on that last blow." said Victini.

Darkrai paused.

"By a lot. Even though he was AT full power, I doubt he even used 2% what he could really do." continued the fire rabbit.

Darkrai paused.

"Plus, the blow you used took everything you had and more. Absolix looked like he could have easily fired off a hundred more without batting an eye."

"…that son of a- HE HELD BACK!? EVEN WHEN I TOLD HIM NOT TO!?" Darkrai was absolutely furious at this news.

"If he actually did strike you at full power, you would have been obliterated." his mother argued "So since you're still alive, I'm grateful he decided to-"

"I HATE THAT GUY! I'M GOING TO GIVE HIM THE WORST NIGHTMARE OF HIS LIFE! AND THEN I'LL GIVE HIM ANOTHER ONE AND KEEP GOING ON!" ranted God's furious son, plotting his next move. Victini quickly Zen Headbutted him in the stomach, which caused the dark type to double over in pain, shutting him up.

"Speaking of which, why is it that Darkrai is the only one who came out of this unharmed? I thought you said he had been stabbed in the heart!" Arceus exclaimed, a worried look on her face.

"Eh… funny thing." Victini gave a mysterious smile "I managed to convince Absolix to heal him."

Arceus was shocked, "How?"

"Well it went like this…"

* * *

><p><em>FLASHBACK- ONE DAY AGO<em>

_Absolix: "I, the nefarious Absolix Michael Solaris have won against Darkrai, who is useless and needs more training! I am very evil! Bwahaha!"_

_Victini: "Not so fast, foul creature! I demand you heal my apprentice and get out of here!"_

_Absolix: "And why would I do that?"_

_Victini: "Because if you don't then I, Victini, shall give you a taste of my powerful V-Create attack!"_

_Absolix: "Curses! Foiled again! I guess I have to do it then!"_

_*He does*_

_Victini: "Now begone with ye!"_

_*Absolix vanishes out of sheer cowardice*_

_Victini: "And thus my stupid idiot apprentice was saved thanks to I, Victini!"_

* * *

><p><em>END FLASHBACK<em>

Arceus: "…"

Darkrai: "That totally didn't happen!"

"You were knocked out, so how would you know?" Victini said logically.

"Regardless, this situation just got worse." said the leader of the Legendary Council, "With… the vast majority of Calestia injured… the mission has become impossible to accomplish, and now both Almia and Oblivia are in danger."

Darkrai perked up after hearing this. Victini replied "So what do you want to do?"

"Well that should be obvious. I'll find some way to get them back here in Destiny, and then I'll send new-"

"No!" Darkrai suddenly interrupted. The two adults stared at him "No. Mom, you gave us a mission. We're going to accomplish it."

"Darkrai, I know you want to do this but-"

"We aren't kids anymore. And besides, we have a plan to fix all this." Darkrai said forcefully. At this, Victini and Arceus blinked, asking what their so called plan was.

Darkrai explained that Cresselia already had a method for them to be back at full power quickly enough- Since they had Team Nova and the three beasts, Cresselia could use their own high energy and siphon it to her body, and speed up her own healing process. And when Cresselia was healed, then it would be a cinch to heal the others with Moonlight.

"We aren't out yet. Please, give us another chance." pleaded the dark type. His mother was astounded that Cresselia could even use an energy absorbing seal, and that they had come up with a good idea even though they were knocked down once.

"…hmph…" Arceus smiled, "Fine. Your mission continues: Find out why Pokemon are being mind controlled, and put a stop to it."

Darkrai grinned. "However, Victini, I'll need you to stay and watch them. Tell Team Nova the same thing, and inform me the instant if something like this happens again. I will establish a permanent communications channel, any of you can contact me at any time." continued the equine legendary. Victini was more than happy to oblige, but he still wanted to train Darkrai, who was far too weak, which Arceus agreed upon.

"Hey I'm not weak! I'm a freaking class three!" Darkrai stammered. At this, he finally showed them his true power by created a small shockwave that emanated across the room, and his aura was starting to become visible "See!?"

However in the other room, cries of pain and screams of agony were heard. Darkrai realized his nightmare powers were acting up again, more so because of his increased power. Awkwardly, he let his power drop down to more manageable levels, while Malispite cursed at him from the next room.

"Anyway I'm a class Three now! So don't I get a badge or something!?" Darkrai said eagerly. His mother sighed

"Darkrai, you are not a class Three."

"But my power level is-"

"In order to be a class Three, you ALSO need to be over 18, AND you have to have done something remarkable and worthy of the title. You have achieved neither of these things." said his mother dryly. Darkrai protested of course, but in the end she was right.

"I believe that concludes my business… Victini, if anything related to Absolix comes up, do not hesitate to call."

"Got it." saluted the fire rabbit.

"And… when Mewtwo wakes up, I will have a word with him."

Arceus' picture vanished, a 'call ended' display on the computer monitor. Victini looked over at Darkrai "Well then, I think we ought to see how everyone's doing."

"Yeah…" said the prince of darkness solemnly. The two began to walk and float down to the infirmary. It wasn't a pleasant sight- everyone besides them had taken a lot of damage. Casts were everywhere on every body part, and bandages galore were stacked upon them all.

Cresselia was the only different one. While she was as bandaged up as the rest of them, she was not in a bed but rather surrounded by a circular seal. It had an inefficient design, but it could speed up her healing as long as energy was being poured into it. In light of this, Master Dunsparce and his former teammates of Team Nova sat around the circle, and slowly poured their own energy into it.

"Move, let me do this." said Darkrai. With a small grunt, he placed a palm on the seal and quickly emptied his energy reservoir. The act sent some green energy into Cresselia, who sighed a bit whilst she slept.

Ariados and Dusknoir were surprised that Darkrai had so much power "Hoho, looks like your pupil might be stronger than you are Dunsparce!"

Master Dunsparce stared.

The prince of darkness looked around- all of his friends were unconscious, forcibly put to sleep in order to heal them better. Darkrai tried to keep his energy low, so that he would not give them nightmares being in their presence.

"Shit…" Darkrai finally sighed, "We sure failed this time. I nearly died, my sister was traumatized, everyone's hurt, Celebi defected… what else?"

"Absolix persuaded Regigigas to his side. He has three class Five legendaries on his team, so if he were to attack us we would hardly stand a chance against him." piped up Victini.

"…yeah…" said Darkrai solemnly. He turned to Victini "So why are you so chipper in spite of all that?"

"Will moping around help us in any way?" smiled his teacher. Darkrai huffed. Master Dunsparce stared at Darkrai and Victini.

"I'm… sorry? I can't understand you with your thick accent?" Victini smiled nervously. Darkrai sighed, he was used to it already "He said he was sorry for not unsealing me from before." Darkrai faced his karate master "It's not your fault, how would you know we would be attacked by freaking Absolix and Xeno?"

Master Dunsparce stared. Darkrai nodded "Yeah, Xeno was pretty intense. Before I came, they were having a lot of trouble with him…"

Master Dunsparce stared.

At this accusation Darkrai turned red "Being in the heat of battle does NOT mean I should spark a romance! Especially with… with…"

"Darkrai?"

The prince of darkness just remembered; there was one more person who was more or less unharmed, thanks to some crazy healing light powers. Nervously turning around, he faced his old childhood friend.

"Hello Gardevoir… you didn't happen to hear any of that did you?"

"Hear any of what?" asked the green haired girl. Master Dunsparce stared, then Darkrai turned even more red and said he would be leaving his lying master. Darkrai quickly sped out and his childhood friend followed shortly after, shouting "Wait, I need to talk to you!"

"Ah, young love." Dusknoir grinned without a mouth. On the floor, the yellow and blue worm stared.

"Well they're teenagers, what do you expect?" Ariados rolled her eyes, "Still, it is funny to see them dance around the subject like so."

"I'm sorry, am I missing something?" Victini asked. Team Nova quickly explained that Darkrai and Gardevoir were obviously in love with each other. This was held despite the fact that he often proclaimed his love for his high school crush Lopunny. Their evidence included their ubiquitous nervousy when the subject was brought up, the amount of care in which they showed each other, and finally, because most of the fan-base thought so.

"We have a fan-base?" the fire rabbit cocked an ear. Still though, Darkrai did mention that he "especially" wanted to protect Gardevoir, so his actions did add up.

"Hm, well I was going to continue our training… but I guess he deserves a break this once." shrugged Victini. Looking at Cresselia's seal, he shot a bit of his own EP into it which fueled her recovery "Well, I'm off to find the Unovan deer trio, seems as though they got lost again… I'll be back later."

Gardevoir finally caught up with Darkrai. She said she had something to say to him, Darkrai hesitantly obliged; his master's comments still rang in his ears. However, Darkrai told Gardevoir to stay ten feet away from him.

"I've… gotten a lot stronger without the seal holding me back." confessed the prince of darkness, "You'll start to hallucinate if you get any closer."

The girl paused for a moment as she realized the pained expression upon Darkrai's shining blue eyes. Gardevoir shifted back and forth, "I… I just wanted to say thank you. You knocked me out when I turned back into that… well, the not-me, right?"

"I gave you a nightmare was all." said Darkrai simply, "and hoped it would work. Luckily it did."

"Darkrai…"

"If that's all, I need to go back to do some training." said the prince of darkness, suddenly leaving. Gardevoir cried out for him.

"Wait!" her voice caused him to stop "Darkrai, I… you've been gone for so long! I missed you. Can't we just… talk for a little bit more?"

The pitch black Pokemon cringed when he heard these words. He wanted to, he really did. But Darkrai's nightmarish powers would go out of control and infect her, just like the day they decided to dance.

"I'm not going to repeat what happened that day!" Darkrai shouted, back turned to her "You might trust me but… but I don't. And I refuse to endanger you as long as I live!"

Gardevoir opened her mouth, but no words came out. There was silence between the two, as the green haired realized his feelings for her, and his motivations. When she finally saw what Darkrai was trying to say to her, she frowned and grew serious.

"I see. That's how it is then…"

"Unfortunately." replied the pitch black Pokemon, recalling Asmodeus' quote about how he, a creature of darkness, could not associate with creatures of light. Doing so would bring either of them harm. But, at least he got to protect her from a distance. That was enough… wasn't it?

"Fine then! I guess there's no other option!" Gardevoir huffed "Darkrai- I want you to give me a nightmare this instant!"

There was a long pause. Slowly, Darkrai turned around, a gape on his mouth, blue eyes wide with confusion.

"…Wh…What!?" he finally shouted. Gardevoir placed her hands on her hips- Mewtwo had hypothesized that Cresselia, the only one immune to Darkrai's nightmares, was like that because she had become used to his presence while they share the womb. Therefore, reasoned he, it might be possible for someone to become immune to Darkrai's nightmares by being exposed to many of them.

_"But really, who would be stupid enough to try and test that?" laughed Mewtwo_

"I AGREE! THAT'S A HORRIBLE IDEA!" Darkrai pointed out.

"Give me a nightmare!"

"NO!"

"I said give me one!" Gardevoir began running after Darkrai, who freaked out and tried his best to get away.

* * *

><p>Gallade, laying in bed, casually looked to his left out the window. There, he saw Darkrai running away frantically from Gardevoir, who was shouting for him to give her a nightmare.<p>

Gallade's mind officially became broken when he saw that image. After all, it was supposed to be Gardevoir running away frantically from the vile Darkrai, not the other way around.

"Gliscor, I'm seeing Gardevoir chasing Darkrai wanting for him to give her a nightmare. Does that sound reasonable, or is that the medication acting up?"

"Probably the medication." said Gliscor, awake but unable to move "I'm seeing some kind of strange creature right now."

To Gliscor's right, he saw the image of a purple and black pony, she called herself "Twilight Sparkle", and was ranting to him about "Elements of Harmony" or something like that.

"Are you even paying attention? This is important!" she yelled at Gliscor.

"Shut up! You're just an illusion from my medication, go away!"

"*sniff* You meanie!" the pony vanished with a poof. Gliscor sighed, happy to be rid of such an annoying hallucination.

"Urg… I can't even move man, can you?" asked Gliscor to the green and blue haired knight. Gallade said that he could not, but at least things couldn't get any worse.

And then she arrived.

Her illustrious, long, flowing blonde haired sparkled with all seven colors of the rainbow dazzling the very sun itself. Her skin was fair, yet sunny and showed years of absolute perfection. Her eyes were wide and small enough to reflect her maturity despite her youthful tendencies. With long lashes that glittered in the rays, every time she blinked a wave of happiness soared over everyone, for there could none immune to her charms. Full lips that were dainty and thin line her mouth, inside a tongue so beautiful that it shone a brilliant purple and gave lip service galore.

"Hi guys, I'm back!" said Mary Tzu in a quiet yet loud and beautiful voice. Gallade and Gliscor let out a unanimous sigh as she prattled on about her adventures. Apparently Mr. Kincaid wanted her to go to fight off plant people in Oblivia. Upon arriving, there were no plant people, so she became bored and traveled to the 666th dimension where she single handedly fought an evil overlord, restored balance to a desperate kingdom, and had a crazy awesome make out session with Light from Death Note.

"Wait, you're the reason we had no backup during that time!? Kairi disappeared that day you idiot!" Gallade said angrily. Unfortunately, Mary Tzu ignored him.

"And now I'm here! Where's Zero!?" she scanned the area for him.

"Very far away." said Gliscor in a low tone.

"Yeah, Zero is all the way in uh… Sinnoh. Yeah." Gallade added. At this, Mary Tzu gasped- Arceus must have turned evil because she's a b**ch like that and taken Zero hostage!

"DON'T WORRY ZERO I WILL SAVE YOU!" Mary Tzu ran away, everyone in the room giving sighs of relief.

"Good work you two, we dodged a bullet there." Cresselia commented. She was awake, and looking much better, nearly at full health in fact. Gliscor insisted she get more rest, but the blue and yellow swan said no.

"I'm fine enough, moreover I'll need to rearrange this seal so that we can convert power directly to me, so that I can fire off super Moonlights and heal all of you." explained the swan "So let's begin by-"

Suddenly Darkrai ran into the room, holding a screaming and thrashing Gardevoir in his hands "Oh thank Mom you're awake!" he yelled "Gardevoir's gone crazy! She wanted me to give her a nightmare but now she's like this!"

"Um.. What?" everyone asked.

"FIX HER!" Darkrai thrust his friend to his sister. Cresselia quickly performed the necessary ritual, and Gardevoir was soon awake.

She jumped to her feet "Good! Now give me another one!" And as she chased Darkrai away, Cresselia had to wonder if Gardevoir really was losing it.

"Are you quite sure they're in love?" Dusknoir noted the screaming.

"I… Er…" a bead of sweat formed on Ariados.

"Hey wait, where are Malispite and Mercifond?" worried the psychic swan. Victini assured her that they were in another room, safe and sound. She asked the same about Deoxys and Mewtwo, and got the same answer, they were also in separate rooms.

"We're going to take five Cresselia. Us old farts are spent from giving you all that energy, hoho." said Dusknoir. The former rescue team Team Nova exited the building while reminiscing about the past. Soon after they left, Darkrai came back in again holding Gardevoir.

"Look, I'm going to hide until she stops this craziness!" he handed her to his sister, "So don't look for me!" Darkrai turned into a shadow and escaped.

Cresselia wondered what had struck Gardevoir as she healed her yet again. Yet again, Gardevoir woke up from a horrid nightmare, yet still determined to get more "Where's Darkrai, Cresselia?"

"He… decided to hide… why are you doing this if I may ask?"

"So that I can be immune to his nightmares like you are." said Gardevoir, a determined expression upon her face. Cresselia paused. Gardevoir left off running, trying to find Darkrai.

At last, Cresselia had the room to herself, more or less. Carefully, she brought up a sealing book, flipped to a page, and began rewriting her seal on the floor. She worked mostly in silence, muttering to herself every now and then. Gallade, too tired to do anything, fell back asleep because of his injuries. Gliscor looked at her, nervous. They were the only two awake.

After a length of silence, Gliscor began to speak "So Cresselia…"

"Cresselia!" another voice shouted, drowning out his own. A blue of blue sped into the room, knocking itself into a wall. It was a large blue and white bird like Pokemon, one whom Gliscor recognized immediately.

"Latios!?" said Cresselia in surprise. The male bird reacted to her voice, zooming in her direction and stopping just inches from her.

"Cresselia!" he yelled again, "I came as soon as I could! You're okay right!? They said you were but…"

The gave him a warm smile "I'm fine. Really, I am. I have to help the others recover in fact."

Latios gave a sigh of relief "Oh man that's good… I heard you met up with the guy who killed my uncle, so…"

"I'm fine. Unbelievably, my brother saved me." joked the lunar swan, "So um… what brings you… here…"

One could practically feel the tension in the air. The blue bird turned a little pink at her question "W-Well I was worried because you're one of my friends so…"

Cresselia smiled warmly, dipping her head to hide it. She and Latios had went to the dance together a month back "as friends", and Cresselia was afraid that after that time her relationship with him would have been platonic as ever.

Yet, this was not the case. Two weeks after, he got word of her leaving for Almia and helped see her off, giving her a couple berries before leaving. He kept in regular contact with her, at least prior to the incident with Regigigas. Looking into his eyes, it was clear that he cared for her.

And so, she decided to take a chance. Calculation of risk and reward had nothing to do with it- their closeness to each other had already fried that part of her brain. Rather, it was a decision based upon raw, intense emotion. For this was the one that trumped every other feeling in her body, the right emotion.

"Latios

I love you."

His lips met hers by the time she finished processing it. It was a quick, passionate exchange of love but it seemed to last an eternity for the both of them. Before she knew it, her neck was under his own. A small tear dropped down Latios' cheek, a tear of relief that his love was truly safe. Cresselia nuzzled up to him, and for a time, everything was peaceful.

Gliscor was still awake. He kept his eyes closed, both to fool them, and to prevent him from seeing her with Latios. A memory came to him without warning.

_"That pales in comparison to the one thing you truly want. The one thing that has convinced you to remain in these horrible situations: a woman. A woman so close to you, yet so far away. You never had the courage to tell her how you feel, because you think she won't reciprocate…Oh wait, my mistake._

_You already know she doesn't love you."_

* * *

><p>Gently and slowly, Mewtwo woke up. He slowly became alert of his surroundings: a plain white room. Bedsheets. Brown door. Weight on his midsection.<p>

Mewtwo tried to remember the last thing that happened. It was a blur, but for the most part he recalled his own actions- he had lost against Absolix, then decided that Xeno should eat him in order to gain his powers. Xeno did… so why was he here?

Was this the afterlife? Was he having his memories stripped in Mu right now? If so, the afterlife was a very large headache that he suddenly felt. Anguishing, he clenched his fists and eyes. It went away soon, thankfully. He then turned his attention to the weight on his stomach.

Head tilted up for a better view, he saw a Ribonian's head nestled firmly into the soft part below his chest armor.

For a while, he stared at Deoxys. He was content with her head being where it was. Trailing down her body, he spied injuries across her frame, and some unattached cables. She probably ripped herself free from some medical machines to see him, then collapsed without their aid.

To see him.

Mewtwo could hardly comprehend Deoxys' love for him. He didn't understand it, nor did he wish to, except for it to go away. She was good girl after all, she deserved much better than he, a failed clone that did not exist.

As for his own feelings on the matter, well…

His own feelings hardly mattered.

The girl suddenly started moving a little bit. Giving a telepathic sigh, Mewtwo waited patiently as Deoxys slowly managed to wake up from the dream she was having. Blinking once or twice, it took her a moment to realize she and Mewtwo were staring into each others eyes.

"Hello." stated Mewtwo. The girl let out a telepathic sigh to stay awake- he could tell Deoxys was exhausted.

"Mewtwo…?" she questioned, "Hi…"

"Hello." stated Mewtwo again. Deoxys shifted a little, moaning "I'm tired." as she continued to subconsciously snuggle against him. Mewtwo felt a bit embarrassed by this behavior, but reasoned her higher cognitive functions were likely impaired.

"Hey, it was… cold in the other room… can I sleep with you?"

Yes. Wait- no.

"No, I hardly think-" but Mewtwo's thoughts did not matter. Deoxys, as weak as she was, managed to pull herself onto his bed, lay herself to his side and place the blanket back over the both of them. The purple psycat couldn't move, whether it be by the medicine or something else. He merely watched until she was done.

In the end, Deoxys lay next to him, one hand around his chest and their faces mere centimeters apart. He could feel himself becoming warmer and detected his heart beat faster, obviously due to instinctual mating residue that he still had.

Despite this, he had to admit that Deoxys looked absolutely exquisite up close. Her shapely figure, red and blue soft skin up against his comparatively thin fur… not to mention her eyes, which although half closed still gave a feeling of seduction the psycat was uncomfortable with.

"Mewtwo…?" she said in her sweet voice. Mewtwo's throat was dry. He managed to swallow some salvia and ask a "What?". Gently, she pulled herself closer to him "Don't get eaten again… please…"

And then, she drifted off to sleep. He however, was still wide awake. Mewtwo that no mater how hard he tried, his eyes seemed to always drift to her feminine shape. It drove him mad, and with some will he was able to raise a hand from under the sheet. He reached for the buzzer- the aids would get her off of him.

His hand never reached the intercom button. It started to go there yes, but then if began drifting off until eventually it landed on Deoxys' forehead. Delicately as to not wake her up, his hand stroked her and then let it rest behind her head to prop her up.

"What am I doing…?" Mewtwo said to himself, "I'm not a real being, I'm the exact same as Mew… why are these false emotions so intense?"

He looked over at Deoxys, half expecting her to give him an answer to his question. But no, her eyelids remained shut and her peaceful breathing continued. He stared at her for half an hour, waiting for an answer that would never come.

Finally, Mewtwo sighed and went back to sleep along with her.

His dreams were pleasant.

* * *

><p>Cobalion, Terrakion and Virizion were in a dark cave lightened by blue colored crystals.<p>

"I JUST WANTED A DRINK FROM THE WATER FOUNTAIN!" Terrakion yelled.

"Shush and help me concentrate! We can't be too far away from the Ranger Headquarters!" Cobalion blared back, pointing at a poorly drawn map on the floor. Suddenly, they heard a scream. Looking to the depths of the cave, they saw two humans dressed in dark clothing running towards him.

"He's crazy I tell you, crazy!" one yelled, before zipping right past the three legendaries in training. There was a pause as the three fighting brothers took this in.

"What were they yelling about?" Virizion asked.

"I don't know" Cobalion could not speak Humanese either, "But I don't think it was good…"

They heard footsteps. Slowly, a third human walked up to them. He was tall, with blonde hair and green eyes. He work deep black jeans, a blue overcoat, and had two Stylers orbiting around his body. It was a man every Pokemon knew.

"Zero Mitsurashi!" all three immediately faced him. Zero laughed "Ah, I see you know me. Good! Then I'll skip introductions and go to the part where I try to capture you!"

"You can't beat us Zero! We're with the Ranger Union, and we're allied with a group named Calestia!"

Zero suddenly stopped advancing. "Ranger Union and Calestia?" he wondered. Inwardly, he began to debate something in his head. Finally, he shrugged.

"Okay fine, I won't capture you. But in exchange, you three have to deliver a message to the Ranger Union." said the world's most feared human, "I can't get radio signal this deep down and well… I can't leave quite yet."

"Message?" the green deer questioned. Zero cleared his throat:

"'Go to the Chroma Ruins immediately. This is Alpha priority.' Oh, and tell them I sent the message too."

The three deer nodded their heads once "Okay fine…we'll deliver your message. But one thing…"

"Yeah?"

"How do we get out of here? We're lost."

"Oh that's easy." Zero smirked, his left eye suddenly glowing a violet hue "If you don't get out of here before I change my mind… then you three will be my slaves until they do arrive!"

And, for the first time, the three muskadeers managed to get out of something without hassle.

* * *

><p>Malispite lay in his bed, casts and bandages all over his body. Though unable to move his arms, he was able to move his fingers, hence explaining why he was playing <em>Pokemon Blue<em> on an old gameboy. By playing this game while being in this series, he was breaking the fourth wall, the fifth wall, the sixth, and possible the seventh wall.

It was AWESOME.

In the other room a ways away, he could hear Cresselia and Latios talking. He had heard them smooching earlier, and now Latios was helping her set up the sealing system so that Cresselia could heal them. They giggled every five seconds.

"Tch." the tall brown bat was annoyed at them, "Romance… who needs it anyway? Seems like a waste to m-"

The door opened. Three beasts of johto stepped into the room "Is this where Cresselia is…?" pondered Suicune. Malispite pointed them in the right direction, and the three beasts walked further down the hallway. Door still open, another figure emerged, one that make the brown bat turn red.

Meloetta, the new queen of unova (though still technically a princess). Her small stature hovered around the door frame before the girl went in herself, hiding her hands behind her back "H-H-Hello Malispite."

"…Meloetta…" acknowledged the bat. Immediately she began talking "I- my guards the three muskadeers have gotten lost, and since I feel safer with you somehow would you…"

Malispite chuckled at this "Well not that I don't mind… but I'm kind of useless right now." the green haired soon-to-be-queen took a good look at him, and found his condition to be pretty bad.

"Oh… okay then! We'll reverse our roles!" Meloetta sucked in her gut "I'll protect Malispite until he's better!"

"Th-thanks." Malispite looked away.

"Mn? Who's protecting what?"

A new voice entered the area. Mercifond turned herself over, but soon regretted it as she cringed from the pain, though it soon faded "What happened?"

"Merc! You're finally awake!" said Malipite happily.

"How long was I out…?" she tried to rub her head but found her arms would not move.

"A long time." said Malispite, the green haired unovan princess watching with interest "But listen! Use your Chosen One powers to heal us!"

Mercifond narrowed her eyes. She had no idea how to control her Chosen One powers at all. Every time she tried, it always produced some sort of strange and random effect, and rarely did it do what she told it to. But her brother assured her that she could do it, so with a huff, she tried something.

Her Chosen One necklace began to emit a soothing light, a light that gently shone throughout the area.

And then it turned into a laser beam which shot the ceiling above Malispite, yelling. The ceiling walls began to crumble and Meloetta acted; she leapt up and used her psychic powers to deflect any and all gravel away from Malispite, until finally it was safe.

The white and black psychic sighed in relief. It was then that she noticed she had subconsciously placed an arm around his fuzzy mane, and that their faces were mere inches apart. Both of them realized this, and that was why they could not move. Mercifond watched with interest and confusion, waiting for them to do something, but their faces only got more and more color to them.

Eventually they were interrupted by none other than Darkrai "I heard an explosion! What the crap happened!?"

Very quickly, Meloetta got off of him and Malispite turned away "Uh, Mercifonds Chosen One powers backfired and uh…"

"Oh." Dakrai looked at the hole in the ceiling "But listen! You have to hide me before she-"

"Darkrai give me a nightmare this instant!" Without warning Gardevoir appeared from nowhere and latched herself onto the prince of darkness. The act of course, sent her to sleep and screams began pouring out of her body, though they were not as harsh as before.

"See what I mean!?" Dakrai said, trying to somehow dispell the nightmare, while the others became wide eyed with confusion "She's lost it I tell you! She's lost it! Anyway get her to Cresselia, I have to hide before she does this again!"

Darkrai turned into a shadow and left.

"…what just happened?" asked Meloetta.

"This is strange even for us…" Mercifond agreed. Gardevoir's ceased screaming since Darkrai had left the premise, but it was clear she was still having a bad dream "Meloetta, would you…?"

"Oh, right!" she was the only able bodied Pokemon in the room after all, "I'll be back to protect you Malispite!… and Mercifond! Uh, bye!"

Levitating the elegant psychic, Meloetta traveled to Cresselia's room, where apparently she had gone back to sleep. A new type of seal surrounded her, and the three beasts plus Latios were giving her all the energy they could.

"Her again?" questioned the blue and white bird. He explained that this was the fifth time Gardevoir had come to Cresselia for aid. Though the pink swan was unconscious at the moment, she had come prepared by giving Latios one of her feathers, a lunar wing, which could dispel her brother's nightmares.

They applied the green feather, and sure enough, Gardevoir awoke. She appeared dazed and confused, but managed to stand back up "Thanks for snapping me out of that nightmare." she said, "Now I have to find Darkrai again, he probably ran off…"

Gardevoir Teleported herself out of there.

"Is there something we're missing here?" Raikou and Entei asked, confused.

"Yes. Yes there is." stated Latios.

A pause.

"So… what is it?"

"I have no idea…" admitted the blue bird.

* * *

><p>Gardevoir huffed along, giving a quick wave to the former Team Nova as she passed them into a nearby forest. Darkrai had been here last time so…<p>

Carefully, she concentrated. Using her psychic powers, amplified by her Synchronize ability, she began to sense the immediate area she was in. Ariados had taught her how to scan for anything that radiated aura, as this was a useful ability in a ranged fight- for your attacks would be more accurate.

She found a number of wild Pokemon but paid them no mind. The green haired girl sighed, then Teleported to another area and repeated the process. Still not finding anything, she again Teleported and scanned. This time, she found him.

"There you are…" Gardevoir's eyes glowed a translucent green. Locking onto Darkrai's energy signature, she performed one last Teleport and ended up directly behind him.

The prince of darkness had quick reactions and turned into a shadow form to escape her. But Gardevoir already knew the weakness to this technique. Carefully as to not lose control, she performed a basic light move that lit the surrounding area and forced Darkrai out of his shadow.

The prince of darkness had mere moments to think before he knew his crazy childhood friend would Teleport right next to him and repeat the process all over again. Running away would do nothing- she could track him. Attacking her? His job as to defend her, and Darkrai hardly wanted to be a hypocrite concerning that. With Gallade injured and thus unable to reason with her, there was only one logical way out this.

"Hey wait! Just- Just stop for a minute Gardevoir!"

He would have to reason with her.

"…Yeah?" asked the green haired girl. Darkrai cleared his throat.

"Okay let's start with the obvious…why have you lost it!?" he crossed his arms, "I mean, did you get hit on the head or something?"

"I haven't lost it. I'm perfectly sane." said Gardevoir in her sweet voice, "Now give me a nightmare."

"SEE!? No sane person would ever want a nightmare! Especially one of mine! So why do you?" questioned the prince of darkness. At this, Gardevoir smiled

"So that I can be immune to your nightmares. Mewtwo said that I might be able to adapt if you keep exposing me." she explained.

Okay, so apparently Gardevoir wasn't totally mad. "Oh.. I get it…" Darkrai clasped his hands, "You just need me for training! Well why didn't you just say so, I would have helped."

"No, not training!" Gardevoir jumped. Hesitantly she looked away "I…I just thought that since you afflict everyone with nightmares, it would help if there was someone else immune to yours…"

At this, Darkrai blinked. Gardevoir continued her confession "As you put it, every time you get stronger, your nightmares powers increase. At this rate, you'll isolate yourself from almost everyone. So I won't let that happen." she looked at him with determined eyes "I swear Darkrai, that I'm going to grow closer to you and that we'll be together forever!"

There was a pause between the two. Darkrai was literally stunned that someone would do something like that for him. Gardevoir gave an unwavering stare, proof of her will to see her task through the end. And as amber eyes met blue ones, she suddenly realized how handsome Darkrai really was.

"A-As friends!" Gardevoir suddenly said. Darkrai turned red and muttered a 'yeah' somewhere. "I mean, it's not like we'll b-be t-together together… or anything! Just as friends and that's all!"

"Yeah…" muttered Darkrai, feeling uncomfortable all of a sudden. A quick silenced passed before Darkrai broke it "Well… first of all, you can't just get a nightmare whenever you want to. You need to take breaks in between for your body to adapt. Otherwise you'll be overwhelmed."

Gardevoir blinked "Oh…"

"So listen if… if you really want to do this then at least do it every five hours or something… okay?" he looked at her fondly "I couldn't bear it if I caused you pain."

"…" smiled the green haired girl "I'm glad you…"

She collapsed. Without knowing it, Gardevoir had moved just a few feet closer to Darkrai, and got caught in his nightmare radius. Too long of exposure led her to faint on the spot, eyes arched in a furrowed position. Darkrai carefully picked her up, and she screamed when he did, writhing her body in an attempt to flee whatever horrors played inside her mind.

And yet she was doing it all for him.

"I'll get you to Cresselia…" Darkrai whispered, "So just hang tight."

The pitch black Pokemon retracted his legs and flew towards his sister. He wasn't aware of it then, but when he spoke she became slightly more calm.

* * *

><p>A phone rang. Crawford hastily picked it up "Hello?" the afro'd Ranger asked. Talking on the line. Fast talking "Whoa, slow down buddy, who is this?"<p>

More talking.

"What?" Crawford asked, "Why are you…?"

More talking. Crawford sat there, listening intently. His eyes grew wider by the second, a bead of sweat visible on his face. His mouth was agape. Finally the talking ended, and Crawford slammed the phone back on the receiver and ran to the main room.

There he found Luana playing with her buneary, while Elaine the mechanic and the oil-reeking-guythey had captured were making out in a corner.

"You guys, listen to this! We-" his shout was interrupted when he realized what he just saw. Elaine was making out with the oil-reeking-guy. The two realized they were being watched, and parted lips and bodies quickly in embarrassment.

Crawford: "What… the…"

"So I found out Ollie is a really nice guy!" Elaine said in exasperation.

"And I learned never to trust shady men who hand you Gigaremos ™ again." said the red haired man, "I'm a changed man Crawford, and to prove it, I'll help you all defeat Team Dim Bun!"

"Oh Ollie…" smiled Elaine.

"…anyway!" Crawford got back on track "Listen up, you won't believe this!

We finally found Kairi!"


	16. The Lone Ranger

Chapter fifty two: The Lone Ranger

* * *

><p><strong>One week earlier…<strong>

* * *

><p>Kairi's eyes fluttered open. The first thing she felt was a grainy substance against her palms. Sand. She then felt it elsewhere-specifically, every other part of her body. The brunette's feet tasted water at regular intervals, indicating tide.<p>

Slowly, she put herself into a crawling position, trying to shake the sand off of her body and remember what had happened. Looking around at her surroundings, it was clear she was at a beach. But that couldn't be right, the last thing she remembered she was-

_"You cannot win you fool!"_

_"If you try anything consider your previous gardevoir sliced from the neck up!"_

_"I'm taking… Ruby back…!"_

The boat. She was on a boat with the other members of Calestia- of which Kairi was apparently a member despite being human. She leapt to her feet and scanned the area. Sure enough, she was on a small island and no boat in sight. A quick instinct of panic overtook her, but she silenced it.

She was a Ranger. She had been trained for situations like these.

First off, how long was she out? Kairi had no way of knowing so she skipped that question. Secondly, could she contact the ranger base?

A quick check told her no- her Styler was completely broken. Entire parts were missing, and it did not respond to any sort of fiddling. Kairi sighed and wished Zero were here; he was an expert at these sorts of things…

"So, I'm stranded on an unknown island." Kairi said to herself, "Since my Styler is broken, I've lost all communication with headquarters and no one from there can track me…

Great. How could this get any worse?"

Kairi had a strange sense of déjà vu when she realized what it was- Cresselia often said the same thing to herself sometimes. The last time it happened, things actually did get worse.

The brunette carefully looked behind her. She saw an angry ursaring, snarling at her.

"…I hate jinxes…" muttered the ranger.

"But why?" asked a random jynx.

"Other jinx. Not you."

"Oh, okay."

"GRAAAAARRR!" Kairi leapt to her feet and began pounding the sand as fast as her legs could carry her. The angry normal bear chased after her, apparently thinking she invaded its territory. Kairi turned left where she fell into a forest and headed for some thick trees, using her smaller size and thin frame to navigate between them in hopes to slow it down.

But no, the ursaring merely crashed through the trees to try and get her. Kairi screamed as she tripped and fell. The ursaring pounced on her, and Kairi felt all 400 pounds of it on top of her. She could hardly breath and the bear Pokemon raised a sharp claw.

"YOU WILL STOP!"

A new voice. One belonging to a young boy. Kairi gazed over, and to her surprise, it was none other than Trueman. He was still dressed in his white priestly gown, but looked a little more dirty than usual.

Kairi then realized the ursaring had frozen in its tracks.

"Y-You will leave her alone because she isn't an enemy!" shouted Trueman, clutching his head in pain.

And just like that, the bear hopped off of the brunette and trotted off elsewhere. Kairi was shocked in more ways than one. She got back up and walked over to Trueman.

"T-Trueman? What are you doing here?" she asked, knowing this was nowhere safe for an eleven year old. Trueman gazed away, as if thinking his answer thoroughly.

"I'm… living here for the moment." said the young boy, "But it's really a surprise to see you here, Kairi."

"Where is 'here' anyway?"

"Don't know." shrugged Trueman, "Anyway, I have some food and a fort a little ways from here, so you can come eat if you want."

"…sure." said Kairi, following the boy back to his lair. She had always thought that Trueman was suspicious. He talked in a funny way, and usually avoided contact with just about everyone except his mother, Alekandra, and sometimes Arceus. Her suspect of him being more than an ordinary boy was heightened by the way he stopped that ursaring- with just plain speech.

And when she arrived at his fort, she knew that something was obviously wrong. Trueman pointed to a literal mansion made entirely out of trees. It featured a miniature carnival, had access to electricity and it required a DNA scan of Trueman before they entered.

And then she saw the food. It was packaged, wholly manufactured foods such as cereal, ice cream and sliced bread- all in their respective boxes.

"I have seventeen different flavors of ice cream." said Trueman, opening a somehow cold refrigerator made from leaves and twigs, "What's your favorite?"

Yeah. This boy was definitely suspicious.

"Um… cherry if you have it…"

Trueman soon got out some bowls and they began eating the frozen dessert. Soon their bowls were empty and their bellies satisfied.

With the ice cream eaten, Trueman decided they should play a videogame together. They would play it of course, on a television and game system somehow composed of rocks, some water and leaves.

"Well um, I'd love to but… I'm in the middle of a mission." Kairi reminded herself. She had to find out what was wrong with Oblivia, as apparently Pokemon were being mind controlled there as well. Trueman seemed sad at this, and asked her to stay with him for a little while longer. And while Kairi had a mission to do, who was she to ignore a cute little kid?

"Okay, I'll stay for a little bit." she smiled, which caused Trueman to grin happily, "Um, so which game will we play?"

"Pokemon Colosseum!" said Trueman, holding up a twig and leaf model of the game. Kairi frowned.

"Isn't that dangerous?" she questioned, "I mean, wouldn't that break the fourth, fifth and sixth walls or something?"

Eventually however, they decided to play it. Elsewhere in an alternate universe, Wes and Rui began crying.

While reality broke around them, the game cube began playing images of shadow Pokemon. It was actually a pretty fun game "Isn't this based off of a true story?" Trueman interjected once.

"It is." Kairi took concentration off the game for a second, "Cipher was real, and they really did try to use shadowed Pokemon to try and rule the world. It's in the history books you get to later."

"Whoa. So we're playing right through history right now!?"

"Well obviously the game makers had to make things more dramatic." shrugged the brunette, trying to catch a dark-aura'd pokemon "Cipher wasn't nearly as influential as it is in here. They actually ran their operation on a lone island in a beat down shack."

"Oh…"

"Plus, they weren't stopped by two humans - these two in the game are just made up.

Ho-oh and Lugia put a stop to them."

* * *

><p>The Hall of Origin was surrounded by a pinkish colored shield. Throughout the destroyed remains of Destiny City, not a soul dared breathe. Many were injured. Many were worse.<p>

Arceus herself had already exerted so much power to create the impenetrable shield. Apparently, it wasn't was she expected- for the creatures broke in anyway. No one knew what exactly they were- only that they sought sheer mayhem wherever they went.

Slowly and carefully, the shield was lowered. It was over. It was finally over. Arceus immediately held a meeting, with a lot of Legendaries attending- the few that were in other regions used holograms.

The weary deity looked left and right. She saw the injured and tortured souls of her fellow legendaries. They had been beaten… but they were still alive. In a triumphant tone, Arceus decreed

"Chapter Forty One is OVER!"

Cheers of relief rang through the Hall that day. Since Arceus' booming voice reached the city, its inhabitants celebrated along with their protectors. Back in the Hall, Arceus was doing her usual business of ordering a restoration of Destiny. Naturally, she would repari the city with her almighty creation powers- once her energy came back that is.

"Thank You we managed to survive that…" Giratina floated along side her in his Origin forme, "I'm still not sure what the hell just happened…!"

"It was like the stuff a Yaoi fan girl writes about in a poorly romanticized fan-fic… then directed by Tommy Wissau."

"Some of our members still are traumatized from eating all that glop… and others are still raving about refrigerators."

"Is Manaphy available?"

"Yes. I think she's trying to restore communications so she can get in contact with Celebi."

"Good. After she does that, tell her to apply her healing powers to those traumatized." Arceus walked further ahead. Giratina paused.

"Wait. Where are you going?"

"I have a private meeting that was supposed to be today. And I don't intend to be late- it was hard enough arranging this with him."

The ghost dragon widened his eyes. He looked solemnly at his old friend, then flew back. She would have to handle that man alone. Giratina flew through the air, phasing through any walls he encountered, until he finally found the communications room on floor 69.

It was a highly technological room, installed by some humans some ten years ago. Filled with screens and touch screens, phones and computers, it was a place where one could literally get in contact with anyone, anywhere. With the sole and grand exception of  
>Sapien City.<p>

There, he found that Manaphy had restored communications.

"Celebi! Thank goodness you're okay…" said the blue fairy. The green plant legendary nodded her head, still looking around for any sign of… anything.

"Yes. Luckily we were able to hide until most of it was over. Calestia was undeterred by this, and half have left for Oblivia to solve the problems there."

"Okay… good." Manaphy breathed a sigh of relief "Aside from that, how's it been?"

"Well, Mewtwo's raving again, and Darkrai went off somewhere to train with a Pokemon called Victini."

"Oh yes, Victini." Manaphy had seen him once "But, what was Mewtwo raving about? Do you think…?" she trailed off, knowing of his insanity.

Celebi gave a bitter frown "I think it's under control. The idiot was raving something about how Myuu isn't dead… and Giovanni has her or something. But like I said, I think it's controlled."

Giratina could not help but take a strange note of this. Giovanni had indeed killed Myuu, he and the rest of the atrocious Team Rocket. They recovered the body though, and gave her a proper burial. Her son Mew was obviously too little to realize what was going on- being a mere six months old.

Her own death did seem a bit odd, but only in the eyes of Giratina. For he was the guardian of death itself, and it was he alone who knew exactly who was dead and who was not. Yet, for some reason… when he saw Myuu's body that day, he couldn't help but instinctively think she was not dead.

Then again, who was he to argue with Celebi, who checked her pulse and tried reviving her several times before a storm of tears erupted? Mewtwo was probably having another episode, and the draconic ghost was reading too much into his job.

"Manaphy, Arceus needs you to heal the wounded."

* * *

><p>Kairi and Trueman delved further into the game. As they did, the brown haired ranger became more and more eager to question the young boy. After all, everything about him was suspicious- why was he here? How could he stop Pokemon like that? How could he make a house like this that defied the laws of physics? And the laws of continuity?<p>

When they at last reached a save point, Kairi dropped her controller and the noise made Trueman look at her.

"What are you doing here?"

"…what?" asked Trueman, again in his strange, incredibly deliberate tone.

"Trueman… I came here because a weird white light sucked me up away from my mission. You on the other hand are a seven year old kid."

"…ten…" Trueman corrected, intentionally dodging the subject.

"Yeah well if my kid was who knows where at eight years old, I would be freaking out." scolded Kairi "So where's your mother? And weren't you supposed to be at the Hall?"

Trueman took a step backwards. He probably should have seen this coming, but being only 10 years old, he hadn't much foresight. Kairi was figuring him out. To relieve her, Trueman sadly but forcefully said

"Kairi, you don't remember ever seeing me, and, and you will run from here back to your job!"

Just then a sharp pain flooded Trueman's mind. Agonizing, he yelled and toppled over in pain as the throbbing continued. Kairi became alarmed and rushed to his side

"Trueman!? Trueman!?" she yelled, trying to comfort him as best she could. The boy mentally cursed himself- of course he couldn't use his power again, he'd already used it three times today. And with such a complex command? Not a chance.

Luckily, the headache soon faded. However Kairi was still here, and Trueman knew he could not use his special ability to try and silence her. So finally, with a small sigh, he told Kairi the truth.

"My mom isn't looking for me any more." he said, "Arceus won't be looking for me either."

"…what?" wasn't this guy supposed to be the next seer of something? Why would that not be important to Arceus, especially since she took all of the trouble bringing him to the Hall?

"Just… just leave me alone!" Trueman suddenly bolted from her arms. His oversized white coat dangling to the floor, his back was turned to Kairi "She's better off without me…"

Kairi took this all in slowly. So that was it "Why do you say that…?"

The boy did not answer. Kairi walked back over to him, crouched down, and gave Trueman a small but firm hug "Trueman, I'm sure you're mother doesn't think she'd be better off without you."

"Yes she would…!" Trueman said forcefully, the small boy verging on tears "You don't know what it's like to be me!"

"No, but I can tell you this:" Kairi began, "When I was about eight, I tried running away from home too. I thought I was useless, and I thought my mom and dad would be happier if I wasn't around…"

Trueman was still crying silent tears, but listening "…well, as you can imagine, that wasn't a good idea. I got lost in a forest. Accidentally made a bunch of mightyena mad at me. But, my dad found and saved me before I was mauled. And you know what? They weren't even mad at me.

They were worried sick that I was gone."

Kairi placed a hand and ran it through Trueman's messy hair "I know you're supposed to be this super powered child or whatever, but even if you were more trouble than I was, I'm sure your mother is still worried sick about you."

Trueman silently nodded his head, wiping away some of his tears.

"O…Okay…" said the boy in a small voice, "I… I miss her…since dad died I…"

Kairi held him tighter "It's okay. Let's figure out a way off this island, all right?"

"Okay…" said Trueman. And like that, Kairi had uplifted the boy's spirits. They gathered some supplies, and began walking in unison to search the island. Through the forest they trekked on, seeing many wild Pokemon along the way.

Eventually, they came across something: a small, man made gravel path. Excited at the possibility of human activity, Kairi and Trueman hastily followed it. Mere minutes after they ran along its path, they reached the end of the forest, and found themselves on top of a large hill.

In the distance, they saw land. With buildings and houses on it.

"Civilization!" Kairi smiled. Maybe the people there could tell them where they were- and also maybe she could find a way to repair her broken Styler.

"But how do we get over there?" asked Trueman. Kairi pondered the question; they could not swim because she doubted Trueman could make it that far, and it seemed almost too far away as well… not to mention, she thought she saw some carvanha in the distance.

"…hey, you know how you somehow made all of things at your fort?" the ranger asked the boy, "Could you make a boat?"

Trueman fiddled with his fingers "I… didn't exactly make that…"

"Then who did?"

* * *

><p>Doctor Alakazam stood still, mouth agape and monocle dangling uselessly. There, he saw the door to his house open, the refrigerator raided, and an overwritten save file on his game cube. Someone actually had the nerve to break into HIS house and eat HIS ice cream!<p>

"You mean like a robber!?" his skitty daughter became afraid.

"Exactly like a robber! Only worse because they stole my ice cream!" said the evil mad scientist. Huffing, he quickly turned to the side, where a case stood on the side of a wall. It was labeled _"FOR EMERGENCIES ONLY"_.

Deciding to take the matter of catching this thief with his own hands, Dr. Alakazam broke the case and pulled out a bazooka from it, aptly named _"The Emergency Bazooka_.

"Come Aureen! Let us catch this criminal for his misdeeds!"

"But daddy, aren't you a criminal too?" his daughter asked.

"I'm a mad scientist my dear. There is a very distinct, scientific, difference between the two." said the psychic humanoid.

"Oh…" said Aureen in awe. Shrugging, she leapt onto her fathers back, where he used the Emergency Bazooka to blow a hole in the wall. Together, they sought to find the evil criminals who stole the ice cream.

* * *

><p>"…" Kairi looked up, something bothering her.<p>

"What is it?" Trueman asked. Kairi bit her lip, not knowing whether this was important or not.

"Well it's just that…" Kairi paused again, "Usually when we do a transition sequence, the Narrator gives some lame quip. He hasn't exactly done that…"

Trueman paused "What's a narrator?"

Kairi shook her head, getting back on subject "Anyway, how are we going to get all the way over there?"

It would be a challenge without any technology to help her. With a broken Styler, she could not call on some water Pokemon for help. With no boat in sight, crossing the water would not be easy. As her thoughts trailed off, Trueman called to her, saying that he found something.

It was a small tower. Barely coming up to Kairi's knees, she leaned down and saw it had a cubic shape, with four small indents on each side and a triangle drawn on its top. The structure was a bluish green color, a material Kairi could not put her finger on.

"What do you think it is?" Trueman asked in wonder.

"I…" Kairi suddenly saw some writing on it, inside the triangle. She carefully pelled off the moss surrounding the relic and saw ancient hieroglyphs, written in some sort of primordial language.

"I wonder what it says?" Kairi frowned, having never seen these signs before. Trueman quickly looked to make sure Kairi wasn't paying attention. This strange monument might be the key to getting off the island, so very quickly, he used his powers.

A jolt of electricity surged through his mind and caused him to yell in pain- but it still worked.

"It says… um… I mean I THINK it says… _'Show proof of Heart and The Guardians shall guide you."_

"Oh great, an ancient riddle." Kairi shrugged, "As if we didn't have enough confusing mysteries…" she looked at the monument, then put her hand on the triangle "And I suppose something's just supposed to happen?"

And then from the statue a beam of blue light shot out, and upchucked a giant yellow bird with a long thin beak. It screeched and thunder crackled around it, shocking the two.

"I AM ELECDOS, GUARDIAN OF THUNDER!" the thing screamed "AND WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?"

"AAAAAGGGHHHH!" Kairi and Trueman screamed in fear, clutching each other in their arms.

"WHICH ONE OF YOU IS SUPPOSED TO BE PURE OF HEART!?" the giant electric bird shouted at the top of his lungs.

"I don't know! What's going on!?" Kairi shouted back fearfully. The bird perched on the ground, and both of them realized that it was transparent. This was no ordinary Pokemon- they were dealing with a spirit.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT'S GOING ON!?" the zapdos screeched "ISN'T IT THE FORSAKEN TIME YET!?"

"Forsaken what now!?"

A pause.

"GODDAMN IT; YOU MEAN TO TELL ME I GOT UNSEALED AND THE FORSAKEN TIME ISN'T EVEN HERE YET!? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG THESE SEALS TOOK TO SET UP!?"

"We're sorry! We have no idea what's going on!" both shouted, afraid of what he might do. The archaic spirit sighed, things definitely did not go as planned.

"WELL THAT'S JUST GREAT. THANK YOU FOR RUINING MY NICE CLEAN DOOMSDAY PROPHECY."

"Uh…" Kairi paused "If I may… what is the Forsaken Time?"

"MANY, MANY YEARS AGO, WHEN I WAS STILL ALIVE-"

"A-And could you do it without that scary voice?" Trueman raised a hand.

"SORRY THIS IS JUST HOW I TALK." screeched the yellow thunderbird, "ANYWAY, MANY, MANY YEARS AGO IN A GALAXY FAR FAR AWAY, WHEN I WAS STILL ALIVE, THERE WAS A STUPID HUMAN WHO TRIED TAKING OVER THE WORLD!

EVERYONE CALLED HIM 'THE WHITE KNIGHT'. HE HAD THE STRANGE ABILITY TO MIND CONTROL ANY POKEMON HE WANTED, PART OF IT DUE TO THIS GOLDEN ARMOR THINGY…ER…

ANYWAY! WITH HIS TERRIBLE PURPLE EYES HE ENSLAVED THE POKEMON OF OBLIVIA AND THEN SUBJUGATED THE HUMANS! AND THEN HE SOMEHOW MADE A GIANT DEATH STAR THING AND TRIED BLOWING UP ISLANDS! THERE USED TO BE TEN HERE YOU KNOW!

SO THEN MY BROTHERS AND I, AS WELL AS OUR COMRADES THE LATI TWINS MANAGED TO TAKE AWAY HIS SKY FORTRESS AND DESTROY ITS POWER SOURCE! AFTER THAT, WE TEAMED UP WITH A SEER AND THIS OTHER WEIRD HUMAN AND THEN WE KILLED THE WHITE KNIGHT FOREVER!

BUT THEN THE SEER SAID THAT EVENTUALLY THE FORTRESS WOULD COME BACK. THAT KIND OF SUCKED. SO THEN WE DECIDED TO SEAL OUR SPIRITS INSIDE FIVE MONUMENTS TO AID THE 'PURE HEARTED ONE' IN THE FUTURE TO DESTROY THE SKY FORTRESS ONCE AND FOR ALL! AND NOW HERE I AM! ANY QUESTIONS!?"

Trueman slowly raised his hand "If this all happened a really, really long time ago… how did you reference the death star?"

Suddenly a giant rocket was fired at them. Luckily it was off aim and missed them by a long shot. From the forest emerged an angry looking alakazam with a monocle, holding an emergency bazooka and a skitty on his shoulder.

"Aha! There you are!" said the nefarious Dr. Alakazam in Pokespeak. Before Kairi could shout that she didn't understand him, Dr. Alakazam fired again. Kairi saw the path the rocket would take, so she grabbed Trueman and leapt out of the way before it fired. The rocket may have missed them, but the explosion rocked their bodies and hurtles them a ways away, with Kairi being very injured.

And to make matters worse, the monument was destroyed.

"MY NICE CLEAN MONUMENT!" shrieked Elecdos in anger "THIS IS THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE!…NO WAIT, I'M DEAD… THIS IS THE WORST DAY OF MY DEATH!"

Dr. Alakazam and his skitty hopped over to Kairi, where he ditched the empty emergency bazooka and pulled out a technological looking spoon. Two of them in his hand, he concentrated psychic energy at their centers, forming a purple energy sphere.

"Wait, stop!" Kairi yelled. But the doctor did not understand her speech, and proceeded to charge up his move even more.

"Please… stop!"

And suddenly, the doctor paused in mid attack. The Shadow Ball completely disappeared, Kairi's hand still in midair. She didn't know it, but her eyes had changed from blue to pure white, glowing with raw power.

The doctor and his daughter stood, unblinking for several second, until they snapped out of it "Now where was I… oh yes, you're the thief who stole my ice cream! Prepare to be punished!"

"W-Wait! We didn't mean to!" Kairi shouted, realizing this must have been the person who made that strange house earlier, "We were just hungry, and Trueman's just a kid so please forgive him!"

"Hah, you think I'll forgive you just for…" suddenly, the doctor paused in mid sentence. His eyes were open wide "YOU CAN UNDERSTAND ME!?

"I CAN UNDERSTAND YOU!?" Kairi was equally shocked, backing away while Trueman looked in awe.

"How can this…anyway uh, while that is impressive, prepare to be eliminated!"

"WAIT!" a booming voice said from above. It was the ghost of Elecdos, who came in between the two, shocking the alakazam and his daughter "YOU CAN'T KILL HER! I THINK SHE'S THE PURE HEARTED ONE!"

"I… what…?" Kairi was lost. Elecdos turned to her; he explained that the seer predicted that in the future, there would be a human who was pure of heart that would help the five guardians destroy the Sky Fortress when it arose again. This special human would have the ability to "link their heart" with Pokemon, or so he said.

"Seriously?" asked Aureen the skitty, "She doesn't look impressive enough to be a pure hearted one…"

"I agree. She hardly looks the part at all." nodded Dr. Alakazam. The zapdos turned back and took a good look at Kairi, reevaluating.

"YEAH GOOD POINT, I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WAS THINKING. CARRY ON." he fluttered to the sidelines again.

"W-Wait! Kairi shouted, eyes still a heavenly white color "Look, if you don't kill us… then as soon as I can I will pay you back so that we can get you more ice cream!"

The alakazam ceased advancing. He cocked his head, a reasonable enough proposal…

"And you will pay me one extra gallon of… what did you say you wanted?" he turned to his daughter, who happily shouted "Cookies and Cream!"

"Okay yeah, that too!" the ranger rolled her eyes.

"Then we have a deal, strange human." the two shook hands. Kairi told this news to Trueman, who had been left out of the conversation. While the ghost bird preened his non existent feathers, Kairi explained to the doctor that they first needed a way off the island, then she could pay him back.

"Hmph! Fine!" the alakazam begrudgingly agreed to help. Luckily for them, he had a way off. He led them down to the opposing beach, the one nearest to the next island. He approached a small computer well hidden beneath the rocks, and activated a door underneath the sand. Rising up from it was a genuine space rocket.

"…you've got to be kidding me…" Kairi was afraid to get into a rocket.

This is the only way off the island, you owe me ice cream! So hop to it!" said the mad doctor. At this, both the brunette and Trueman looked at the thing in fear. Eventually, they found themselves sitting sideways as the mad doctor initiated the countdown sequence, while his daughter counted with him.

"I really hope this one doesn't blow up like last time." said the skitty casually.

"Wait WHAT!?" gaped Kairi.

**_FOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSHHHHHH!_**

Soon everyone was pressed against unimaginable G forces as the powerful machine took off. Suits managing to remain intact and protect them, the rocket zoomed further and further upwards. Slowly the sky became darker, until finally, it was a mess of black with twinkling lights. Outer space.

Naturally this wasn't what the brunette had in mind "I just needed to go to the next island!"

"I know I know! The autopilot is broken!" said Dr. Alakazam. He went down and started to fiddle with some wires and microchips as the crew zoomed past Mars "Stupid coordination grid! Earth is THAT way!" he rearranged some wires and parts, then pressed a red button.

_"WARP DRIVE INITIATED."_

A pause.

"Fric, that wasn't the prob-"

His voice was drowned out as his space ship began contracting space in front of them while extending it behind them. The result was a universal cheat sheet that led to a near instant warp to an entire other solar system.

"No, no no!" Dr. Alakazam cursed, "Aureen, help me!"

His daughter croushed down with him as mechanic parts began flying everywhere. Electricity spurted out occasionally, with the computer giving out random warning messages as Kairi and Trueman held themselves out of fear.

_"OXYGEN DISABLED. OXYGEN ENABLED. ERROR 504. ERROR 309. SHUTTLE WINGS EVACUATED. SHUTTLE TAIL EVACUATED. GIANT LASER CANNON ACTIVE."_

* * *

><p>A huge energy beam was fired down at the planet down below them. Unfortunately, it was Ribos. As the beam trailed down it invaded the atmosphere and hurtled to the earth, eventually slamming against Supreme Queen Helix's tower. Her tower took a huge blow, as now there was a giant hole in the middle of it.<p>

The Supreme Queen looked at this mess and asked in exasperation "Who put a hole in my nice clean tower!?"

* * *

><p><em>"TARGET ELIMINATED. ERROR 901. EJECTING REMAINING FUEL SUPPLY."<em>

"Damn it! Where's the warp drive!?"

_"WARP DRIVE ENABLED. DESTINATION: EARTH."_

"Aha!" the psychic and his daughter emerged, "I finally got the warp drive to-"

His words were again unheard as the ship hurtled straight backwards through the cosmos back to planet Earth. Within seconds the familiar blue planet became visible, but it was far too close. In horror, Kairi realized that they had no fuel left, and were being drawn in by the planets gravity.

"Raise energy shields!"

_"ENERGY SHIELD EVACUATED. PREPARE FOR EXTEMELY PAINFUL RE-ENTRY"_

Everyone screamed in terror as the joyride picked up speed, the rocket ship becoming aflame from the friction of the atmosphere. The ship jerked back and forth, like an extreme massage for the entire ship. Hurtling past the clouds and into the troposphere, Dr. Alakazam managed to find the controls for landing.

The doctor began to steer them out of harms way as countries became visible. The ship began to swoop, and then reverse thrusters were applied to lessen the impact. Then the thrusters broke off, leaving only parachutes as their only means of slowing down the multi ton rocket.

And finally, the space ship made impact. With a deafening explosion, it collided with the ground and sent tons of debris in the air. It hopped up once from the impact, then settled down by crashing next to someone's house, which seemed to finally stop the great machine.

Slowly, Kairi, Trueman, Dr. Alakazam and Aureen went out of the ship, shaking as they walked. They took their space helmets off, and in a triumphant voice Dr. Alakazam declared

"We made it without blowing up this time!"

"THAT'S HARDLY ANYTHING GOOD CONSIDERING WHAT HAPPENED!" Kairi grabbed the Dr. by the collar "WE WERE ALMOST KILLED MUTLIPLE TIMES! AND I THINK WE JUST STARTED A WAR WITH RIBOS!"

"What?" asked the psychic.

"Gentlemen, our situation has become grave." said Supreme Queen Helix, addressing none other than her Four Stars, "As you may have seen, someone fired a giant laser at my headquarters, and now there's an ugly looking hole in it.

Only one person would be evil enough to do this to us…"

"Arceus!" gasped General Guanine.

"Bingo. Therefore, we will have our revenge on her. I need you to go to Earth and then… paint graffiti on the Hall of Origin."

"Of course, a most brilliant solution!" said Guanine, "we will depart immediately!"

"Depart where?" asked Helix, who had such a poor memory she had already forgotten what she was doing. Guanine however, was used to it "Don't worry Supreme Queen, we shall not fail! TO EARTH!"

Kairi looked sideways, they had nearly hit a house but the rocket stopped just in time. She sighed, thankful for at least that. Until that is, the house burst on fire.

Kairi looked at Alakzam, enraged, but the doctor insisted that wasn't him. A little blue haired girl in a lab coat suddenly burst out of the house and screamed something about her invention not working. Seeing Kairi's ranger outfit, she sped over and pleaded with her to fix her house.

"Well um…" Kairi looked down at her still broken Styler. Nonetheless, who was she to refuse help?

"Okay sure, just let me think…" Kairi had faced a similar situation to this before, when the Vien forest was being burst down. They needed someone to use Rain Dance, or Surf, or some other water attack. Unfortunately, neither Dr. Alakazam or his daughter knew any water moves whatsoever.

"NOPE, NOT EVEN ME." said Elecdos. Kairi jumped up in surprise "What the-? How did YOU get here!?"

"MEH." was the answer he gave. Suddenly, the brunette ranger saw some totodile and a croconaw. Figuring her new powers of talking to Pokemon could be some use, she went over and asked them for help, explaining that a little girl's house was on fire.

"And getting even worse!" the girl shouted, noticing the fire had spread downstairs.

"So how about it, will you please help us out here?"

"Nah." all three said at the same time, "We don't wanna."

"Why not!?"

"'Cause we're dicks!" the three water type brothers laughed, and slapped each other high fives. Kairi protested against this unruly behavior but the three brothers spat with a Water Gun attack in her face, knocking her to the ground.

"And by the way- that wasn't water! Hahah!" all three of them laughed.

And that's when Kairi snapped.

"You know what!?" she stood back up, fuming "I was sent through a freaking portal, wound up on a deserted island, broke a doomsday prophecy and rode a rocket into space today!" she screamed, tired of all these stupid Pokemon

"I do not have time for your bullsh*t, so you're going to use your powers to put out that fire, or else I will-!"

Kairi's snow white eyes began to shine, and before she was done with her sentence her Style floated back to life on its own. It cycled around the three Pokemon in a blue of motion, and soon all three were captured and made to understand Kairi's feelings.

Without further word, the totodiles and croconaw stopped laughing at her and began firing water attacks on the blue haired girl's house. While Trueman and the girl gaped that Kairi could persuade them, the fire slowly died out until it was no more.

"Thank you! Thank you thankyouthankyou!" the girl bounced up and down, shaking Kairi's hand, the brunette still wondering how her Styler came back to life like that.

"You're… welcome…" she said slowly, turning her eyes to the water starters "And thank you too…"

"No problem, happy to help!" smiled the croconaw, having a clear and abrupt change of mood.

"How on earth did she do that!?" questioned the doctor in the meantime.

"HM?" said the zapdos, "I'M SORRY WHAT HAPPENED? I WAS TOO BUSY NOT CARING."

The blue haired girl asked to thank her properly by giving her some shelter for the night. She said her name was Nema, and her father was also a ranger. With that said, Nema showed them to the inside of her house, a bit burnt but otherwise intact.

Kairi explained her situation- she needed to get over to Oblivia to help stop Pokemon from being controlled against their will, her Styler was broken, and she owed the alakazam next to her some ice cream. Nema, to her surprise, replied that she was in Oblivia already. Her father had gone out to fix the Pokemon problem, but she might be able to contact him once she fixed the radio.

"Also, if you need to repair anything then I'm your gal!" said the young scientist, "I'll fix your Styler up in a jiffy! Heck, it'll be better than ever once I'm done with it!"

Kairi smiled. Things were finally turning out okay.

* * *

><p>"Wheeler, has everything gone according to plan?"<p>

The short green haired man became nervous "S-Sir, I regret to inform you that um… all four Gigaremo's™ have been destroyed by the force that Arceus sent…"

He faced a large, backwards chair, someone clearly in it "But the test run was a success, correct?"

"Y-Yes sir!"

"Good. Then we proceed to phase three- send all of our men to the Chroma Ruins! Tell them to retrieve the Shadow Crystal!"

The chair swirled around, revealing a neatly dressed man in all black, with black hair and sunglasses to boot "Those fools think I'm merely Blake Hall- president of the esteemed Altru Corperation ™! But little do that know, that I, Blake Hall, am actually-"

Blake Hall discarded his sunglasses, revealing another pair of sunglasses on his face "-Blake Hall! Leader of Team Dim Sun! Mwahahaha! Soon, this world will be mine!"

"Oh, a message for you sir!" Wheeler flipped up a portable computer "It's from the Pokemon Pinchers down in Oblivia. They want to team up with you."

"Oh Arceus not them…" Blake rubbed his temples wearily, "Tell them FOR THE FIFTH TIME that I HATE them, and I will NOT be teaming up with them!"

"Yes sir!" the stout man began to compose an e-mail. Blake Hall sighed

"Honestly, the Pokemon Pinchers are just a bunch of dorks. Who would want to team up with them anyway?"

* * *

><p>"Dude, like Blake Hall the big kahuna says he doesn't want to rip with us!" said a boisterous man in red.<p>

"He also says that we're a bunch of dorks." said an icily cool woman in blue, "HOW DARE HE! LET'S GO TO ALMIA RIGHT NOW AND **RIP OUT HIS INTESTINES, SHOVE THEM BACK DOWN HIS THROAT AND THEN-"**

"At ease, my compatriots." said a mysterious man in purple, playing Pokemon Y on his gameboy "For soon, we shall put in a plan that will let us conquer Oblivia! Then Blake Hall will totally want to team up with us! We'll show him!"

Cheers rang throughout the room "Now let's go pinch some Pokemon! We are not a bunch of dorks! We are vicious, threatening and awesome!

NOW LET'S GO PLAY THE FUNNEST GAME EVUR- MY LITTLE PONY MONOPOLY!"

And they did.


	17. Well that was Lame

Chapter fifty three: Well that was Lame

* * *

><p>"Oh my, this is good." said Victini. The short fire rabbit looked up to see Darkrai, bruised all over, yet staring at him with determination "You actually didn't run away. Congratulations on being the first apprentice not to."<p>

"Eh? You've done this before?"

"Oh sure, I've had like, five other apprentices in my lifetime. All of them quit before this point." said Victini mysteriously, "Because yesterday was just a warm up and ability assessment. The real thing begins now."

This hardly fazed the pitch black Pokemon "Bring it on!"

"After viewing all of the things you can do, I have concluded that there are two major areas we must first work on." said the fire rabbit, "Firstly, you are like me in that you're more of a speed-type person. Therefore, we will only be working on your speed.

Secondly, and perhaps most importantly since you have a ridiculous goal of defeating Absolix… we have to narrow down your moves to less than ten, and then increase your energy efficiency."

Darkrai cocked his head. Sure he understood energy efficiency- use less energy to fire off a move of the same power. But knowing less than ten moves? How did that help him?

"It helps because it will make your more specialized." explained Victini, "If you only use ten moves instead of 20, or 30, then you will become batter at using those ten moves, hopefully as much as if you were using 20-30. Plus, it's less information to memorize, and you can develop special variations on your moves."

"Oh!" Darkrai snapped his fingers, "Like my Dark Pulse Punch attack!"

"Exactly. So while we continue training, I want you to think carefully about which moves you want to be more proficient in. Ideally you would want to pick 5 to 7, but if you choose ten then it will still be fine."

"Hm…" Darkrai was still uncertain.

"I know it seems contradictory, but the results do show. With the grand exception being your mother, who can somehow use 108 different moves and excel at all of them." Victini offered. Darkrai gaped, when he heard the number of moves his mother could use.

"Yeah… but most of us aren't super geniuses, so let's stick to ten for now. Anyway, for your speed training…"

Victini looked around carefully in the cavern they were in. Not much space to run around… but there was a fairly large pool of water "Okay, what you need to do is run in a complete circle around this area. I want you to keep speeding up, and do this as often as you can until you are able to run on water.."

"Run on water!?" Darkrai narrowed his eyes "Didn't someone famous do something like that and now they worship him…?"

"Yes. In fact, they created an entire religion based off of that guy."

A pause.

"AWESOME! LET'S DO THIS!" Darkrai was eager to have god-like fame, so he ran at the water as fast as he could.

* * *

><p>As Nema fixed Kairi's Styler, the brunette gained all sorts of information of where she was and what to do. For starters, she was next to a place called Cocona Village. After looking at a map and remembering the ship was to dock in the Aqua Resort, Kairi saw she was far away from her initial conception point.<p>

Worse, walking was not an option- she would either need to fly there or surf there, because it was a long ways away from where she was now.

"Ruby…" said Kairi in a quiet voice, "She's probably worried sick about me…"

"I SWEAR, WHAT IS IT WITH WOMEN AND JEWELY?" asked Elecdos, yawning.

"Not a ruby! Ruby as in my gardevoir partner Pokemon!" Kairi lashed, "She's been with me for so long I… it almost feels wrong not to have her by my side…"

Trueman gave her a quick hug to cheer her up. The ranger accepted it, then stood up valiantly "What I need is a Lapras or something…"

"We could take the rocket ship again." Trueman suggested. Kairi nodded her head sideways- for one, she was NEVER going on that death trap again. And secondly, the doctor and Aureen had already left. She had managed to borrow some ice cream from the grateful Nema, and thus their business had concluded.

"Will we ever see them again…?" asked Trueman thoughtfully.

"Normally I'd say no. But this is a story written by Cataclyptic. So I'm sure they'll pop up anyway just for the heck of it."

"YEAH, PROBABLY." agreed the zapdos spirit. Kairi turned to him "And what's with you? Why are you still here?"

"WELL…" sighed Elecdos, "I WAS WONDERING IF YOU COULD HELP ME FREE THE OTHER SPIRITS AND TELL THEM THE DOOMSDAY PROPHECY IS OFF. THEN HOPEFULLY WE'LL ALL ASCEND TO THE AFTERLIFE. OR AT LEAST SOMEWHERE MORE FUN. LIKE DISNEYLAND!"

"Death leading to Disneyland?" repeated Kairi.

"YEAH! THAT'D BE AWESOME!"

Not another word was spoken.

Suddenly, Nema burst back onto the scene. The young inventor proudly proclaimed that she had fixed Kairi's Styler. And the toaster. Nema held up Kairi's old Styler, and the girl inspected it. Performing a few quick loops, it looked as though it really was repaired.

"So… it's all fixed now, right?" asked Kairi to the blue haired inventor.

"Except for two things…" Nema bit her lip, "The Communicator part was entirely wiped, and the PMC was too broken to fix… sorry…"

"PMC?" questioned Trueman.

"Pokemon Move Chip." said Kairi, practicing more motions, "You put one in a Styler and it let's you use a Pokemon move at a set power." she finished, putting the Styler in its rightful place attached to her hip "That's okay Nema, you've already done so much…"

"Oh, and I'm almost done fixing our radio!" she grinned, "You can contact my dad and I'm sure he can get you to the Aqua Resort!"

"Alright!" said the brunette, "How long will it take to fix the radio?"

"One chapter!" grinned Nema. This put a damper on Kairi's spirits- an entire chapter to fix one lousy radio? Surely there must be another way…"

"Well, you could try going over to Cocona Village." the blue haired child point left "They might have a usable radio."

"Alright, let's go!"

Nema was going to fix the radio in their house. Trueman had decided to aid Kairi in her quest to find a usable radio in Cocona Village. Setting off from the house, they walked down some large stairs built on a hill until they arrived at a beach, where they walked alongside it east.

"Hey by the way Kairi…" Trueman pointed at her face "You're eyes are white now. They weren't like that before."

"Eh? They are?" questioned the brunette, trying to see her reflection in the sea, "And come to think of it, I can apparently talk to Pokemon without a Styler now…"

"Yeah, that's true." frowned Trueman, wondering what this was all about.

"And what about you?" Kairi jabbed a finger in the boy's chest. The brown haired child was taken aback "What about me?"

"When do you want to open up and tell me what's so special about you? That you can convince an Ursaring to stop fighting without being able to speak Pokemon language? Or how about trying to mind control me a while back?" said Kairi, asking some provoking questions "And isn't the name Truman normally spelled without an 'e'? What's with that?"

"Um, you don't remember any of that, actually." a small pain went through Trueman's mind, but it worked. Kairi looked up and continued walking along the path, completely oblivious. Trueman felt dirty for using his powers on her, but it was for her own good.

The less she knew about what he really was, the better.

Elecdos, who was secretly flying up above, wondered about this new boy. It reminded him about someone he knew long ago…

* * *

><p><em>"EH? WHAT DO YOU MEAN HELP US DEFEAT THE WHITE KNIGHT?" said a younger Elecdos, perched on a large tree branch along with his friend Magtres and his wife Frigiduno.<em>

_"The white knight is scary strong, you know." said the fire bird next to him, "His Sky Fortress can destroy an entire island!"_

_"Yeah, I know." said a male human in blue, "I know how strong he is. But actually… I think I have a power even more frightening than his."_

_"…what do you mean?" asked Frigiduno._

_"You all will fly up in the air and form a circle. Then you will perch back down."_

_And sure enough, they did. One by one the three legendary birds took off and flew in a circle of each other, then landed back on their respective branches._

_The three birds became nervous. They had done all of that without even thinking, without even knowing it was against their free will "WHO… ARE YOU…?"_

_"I call myself Trueman. For all that I can speak… is the truth."_

* * *

><p>Elecdos decided he would keep a close eye on this "Trueman", and secretly observe him to see if he was the same as the man in the past…<p>

When Kairi and Trueman finally arrived at Cocona village, they found the place was deserted. Hesitantly, Kairi kicked down the door to a local surf shack, and sure enough even that place was empty. Exchanging questioning looks, the two trailed upward to the holy site of Cocona, the Rainbow stage. Despite there being many small taverns and shops, not a single person, or even Pokemon, was to be found.

"This doesn't seem right…" Kairi muttered.

Suddenly, a purple colored vortex opened up in the fabric of reality. The brunette instantly held her guard up as she heard a scream through the vortex, then a giant metal ball crashed into the ground, spat out by the tear in reality.

The giant metal ball transformed itself by uncurling, revealing none other than everyone's favorite mental Pokemon, Anarchaoss.

"…wait… don't I know you from somewhere!?" Kairi narrowed her eyes, trying to remember. The steel style quickly pulled out a beard and moustache combination, then used his powers to set himself alight.

"Kairi, Queen of the Britains…" spoke Anarchaoss in a strange voice, "You shall have a task to make an example in these dark times."

"Um… okay?"

"COURSE IT'S A GOOD IDEA!" screamed Anarchaoss suddenly "Behold Kairi- this is the Holy Grail!"

An image of a rainbow styled golden grail flashed before her eyes "Look well Kairi, for it is your sacred task to seek this grail. That is your task, Kairi: the quest for the holy grail!"

A purple vortex opened up in the sky, and Anarchaoss slowly rose towards it, until he had vanished from sight.

"…what just happened?" asked Trueman.

"Apparently I'm supposed to find the holy grail…" shrugged Kairi, just rolling with the convoluted logic.

"Alright, let's do this…" she mumbled under her breath. She looked over and found a helpful travel sign- to the south was their local beach, here was Cocona Village, and to the east was a place called "Rasp Cavern". With Cocona village mysteriously gone, and Kairi having not seen a soul on her trip from the beach, Rasp Cavern seemed like a good start.

She warned Trueman to be cautious, since something was clearly up. Together they went into a small forest, again with no wild Pokemon. They ventured only for a little while before they came across the mouth of a gigantic cave. But moreover, there was a single person standing between them and Rasp Cavern- a man with a green uniform and a strange armor like glove.

The brunette ranger told Trueman to stay back. She approached the man

"Hey! Don't just stand there copying Hinata's character design!" scolded Kairi. He looked up, shocked.

"Y-You may not enter this place!"

"Well guess what. I need a radio, everyone in Cocona is gone, and apparently I have to find the holy grail."

"…what…?" said the man.

"So unless you have a good explanation as to why I can't get in, I will force my way through." concluded the mildly annoyed ranger.

"I do have a good reason." he smirked, "I'm a bad guy."

Suddenly, dropping from the trees came several Hoothoot. However there was something clearly wrong with them- they behaved in an erratic manner and seemed to have lost all will and emotion.

"We are the Pokemon Pinchers!" shouted the evil man, "And we will mind control Pokemon to rule the world!"

_"I see… so that's why this is happening in Oblivia too…"_ Kairi thought to herself. Then, she paused "Wait… Pokemon Pinchers?"

"Yuh-huh!"

"…that's the lamest thing I've ever heard…" said the brunette dryly "I mean seriously? What do you do, grab a pokemon cheeks and pinch them or something?"

"No! It's a cool name!" the pincher argued.

"No." said the young Trueman.

"He's right, it's not." the girl said flatly, "Well, I guess my mission in Oblivia will be easier than expected."

"You dare underestimate us!? Get her hoothoot!" the man commanded.

The hoothoot were all gone. As the pincher babbled in confusion, Kairi told him that during their conversation she had captured all of them and set them free "But that's cheating!"

"No, it's called having a viable strategy!" Kairi kicked the man in the face, knocking him over to a tree, where she quickly called upon some spinerak to capture him with silk. The guard defeated, Kairi and Trueman went into the cave. At first nothing seemed out of the ordinary, save for the lack of Pokemon, but eventually they heard voices.

The two traversed further and further, until they finally came across an open space, where the people of Cocona was tied around stalagmites, bound and gagged. In another separate clearing, they saw all the missing Pokemon in specially designed cages.

"How awful…!" said Kairi, "Don't worry, I'll save you!"

Unfortunately she was then noticed by a sentry, who summoned five more guards to his aid. They in turn summoned several more mind controlled Pokemon to assail Kairi. Yelling, they issued commands for attack.

Kairi dodged the initial assault of poison stings and string shots, then shot her Styler out and managed to loop around a few of them to set the pokemon free. Shielding herself with her Styler, she then performed several more assaults back at the gang, and in just under a minute, all of the Pokemon were set free.

The dumbfounded grunts stared in shock at Kairi's skill with a Styler. Using that same device, she whacked them all on the head, then used the rope used to bind the villagers to secure them.

The townspeople cheered as Kairi and Trueman freed the rest of them, one rope at a time. Once all the hostages were free, the girl's next move was to free the trapped Pokemon. Unfortunately, things didn't go according to plan…

"…I hear word of someone messing with my plans, and what do I see?"

The brunnette faced her opponent- the boss by the look of it. It was an adult woman, with deep sea blue eyes and azure hair. She wore large white and blue boots, along with large white and blue gloves, short shorts, and an tank top across her chest, so short it had to be illegal.

"So, are you the leader of the… oh Arceus… Pokemon Pinchers…?" Kairi felt like washing her tongue just by mentioning that awfully stupid name.

"I am." she said in a calm voice, "My name is Blue eyes. I see you've freed the villagers. **WELL F**K YOU YA' TWATBUSTING WHOREBASKET! IMMA' RIP OUT YOR THROAT AND SHOVE IT DOWN YOUR OWN BELLY BUTTON!"**

Kairi was taken aback by the sudden outburst "H-Holy…! Are you sane!?"

The woman in blue blinked "Of course I am. **NOW DIE IN THE MOST PAINFUL WAY POSSIBLE! FERALIGATR- SKEWER HER INTO A MILLION TINY SHREDS OF FLESH!"**

From the ceiling sprung a tall and vicious feraligatr, who nearly bit Kairi in half if not for her fast reflexes. She knew that this was going to be a tough fight- feraligatr were strong Pokemon, and he had neither a partner Pokemon or a move chip.

It would have to be by Kairi's own skill.

_"Warning: Extreme danger detected."_ beeped her Styler.

"YEAH NO WAY!" Kairi yelled at it.

**"KILL HER UNTIL SHE DIES!"**

The feraligatr began slashing back and forth with its large claws. Kairi moved away as fast as she could- luckily Feraligatra weren't so fast on dry land- and proceeded to shoot out her Styler, then rapidly looped around the mind controlled creature.

Unfortunately for her, the feraligatr seemed to sense what was happening and, right as the Styler made its fifth revelation, roared and smashed at the ground with a cascade of water- along with Kairi's Styler.

The brunette ranger let out a yelp, hurriedly pulling back her Styler. 02/25 points remained. Kairi grimaced, staring defiantly at the smirking Blue Eyes, but unsure of what to do.

"You see, there is simply no way to stop us. **SO JUST F**KING DIE ALREADY!** Feraligatr, finish her." ordered the blue haired woman.

Kairi glanced over at the worried faces of the Cocona Village people. They, along with her friend Trueman were all depending on her to succeed against this cruel woman, and end the threat of the Pinchers forever. But how could she possibly handle this much alone!? She was just an ordinary ranger- average in every way.

As the fearsome aqua crocodile closed in, a memory surfaced.

_"Kairi, we need to tell you something." said Malispite, his sister alongside him._

_"We realize that you don't have much confidence in your skills, having no special powers and all." Mercifond said._

_"Therefore, we have come up with a way to make you stronger than anyone!" grinned the brown bat "All you have to do is, when you find yourself in a situation where it seems hopeless and you can't win-_

_YOU USE BRAIN POWERS TO BEAT THE OTHER GUY UP!"_

_Kairi was dumbfounded. Brain power? Just because humans were way smarter than Pokemon, it didn't mean they could use whatever the heck 'brain power' implied! However, the two bat twins stared at her, grinning and nodding their heads, thinking their advice useful._

_"…okay, I'll try my best…?"_

Thinking back, it was possibly the stupidest piece of advice she had ever heard. But as the feraligatr widened its jaws that could crush rocks with ease, it's gaping maw poised to take out Kairi's head, the girl realized something important:

That they had complete and utter faith in her.

And she would not let them down.

Kairi dodged to the side then jumped, saddling herself on the feraligatr's back. Holding onto its neck, the thing thrashed about in a rage, it's arms too stout to get her off. Blue eyes yelled angry curses, and Kairi could feel her stamina wavering as she rode the great blue crocodile.

So before she ran out of energy, Kairi whipped out her Styler and began looping around the water type while she distracted it with herself. In the span of about two seconds, what seemed like hours to the girl, she realized she had orbited the water type three times in two seconds. Considering that the thing wasn't letting up, it still had a lot more stamina left.

Her grip was severely weakened, and it would take the hulking beast around a second to stomp her flat when she fell off. Calculating she had another two seconds before it could throw her, Kairi only thought one thing:

_"Gotta be faster… gotta be faster…! Feraligatr, I… will… free you!"_

She infused what remained of her will to guide the Styler into surpassing its limitations. And that is exactly what happened. For reasons Kairi did not understand at the time, her Styler's line, once a shining blue, became bigger and multicolored in a rainbow like fashion. But moreover, it's speed was increased ten fold.

A single second passed and Kairi had looped around the thing so fast that the area surrounding the two shone with a bright light.

The revolutions completed, and Kairi's mental capacities exhausted, the Styler dropped to the floor. The feraligar had snapped back to its senses, wondering where it was and what had just happened.

"Wh-what the!?" Blue eyes stammered. According to the state of that stupid ranger, she should have won! Why did the feraligatr stop!?

"Eh? Somethin's on my back…" said the great blue gator in pokespeak. It shrugged off Kairi, gently dropping her to the floor. The girl could barely resist. The feraligatra blinked, confused as to why it had a human on its back.

"That does it. Next time my cousin tells me to sniff parasect mushroom… I hit him. HARD… it grumbled, wondering why it was so tired. Kairi was tired too, but she managed to stand up. In a bold voice, she declared Blue Eyes' arrest.

However the blue haired woman hardly batted an eye "Arrest me? With what? **YOU'RE SO PATHETICALLY TIRED I'LL JUST FINISH YOU OFF WITH MY OWN FISTS!"**

And that's when she noticed the people and Pokemon started to flock in. Without a rampaging gator, they became more courageous and sent in to back up their savior. Soon, Blue eyes was surrounded by many angry looking faces.

"You versus an entire village and their Pokemon? Be my guest." smiled the ranger.

"I peacefully surrender." stated Blue Eyes, clearly outnumbered and outmatched. Kairi was helped by several villagers, who tended to her wounds and gave her some food.

"You came to Cocona looking for a radio?" asked one of the elderly men "And the Holy Grail?"

"Yes… and yes." sighed Kairi, knowing she'd never actually find anything resembling-

"Actually, the Holy Grail is inside this very cave!"

Of course it was. "…okay… how do I get it?"

"Well, it's behind a locked door, but we don't have the key." said the old man. He pointed Kairi to a wooden door with a rainbow like inscription on it, in addition to a heavy padlock. Even if the door was locked, Kairi questioned why she couldn't just bash down the door with a powerful Pokemon and screw the key.

When the old man heard this, he furrowed his brows "She can't do that… can she!?"

"According to the laws of physics, she can." said another old man, writing some equations on a scratch paper "But according to the laws of video game stupidity… she can't. The door is impassable and you need a key."

"Maybe I could slip through the gaping hole." said the brown haired ranger, pointing to a narrow gap in between the ceiling and the top of the door.

"THE DOOR IS IMPASSIBLE AND YOU NEED THE KEY." said the old men once again. And thus, Kairi could not get the Holy Grail unless she found the rainbow key.

"This quest keeps getting more and more confusing…" Trueman rubbed his head. Kairi agreed with him, so she just decided to skip it and ask for the radio.

"Here's you go!" said a kindly woman, handing her a small portable radio. The ranger thanked her, and then she and Trueman set off back to Nema's house with their new radio. With Elecdos silently watching, they crossed the forest, back to the beach, and once again were at Nema's house.

Once she saw they had a working radio, she quickly dialed up her father's frequency. In minutes, she had secured a signal.

"Daddy? Daddy this is Nema, do you copy?" asked the Blue haired girl into the transceiver. Static. Then…

_"Nema… Nem…!? Is… at you!?"_ said a clearly masculine voice.

"Hey daddy!" she giggled, "So listen I have a ranger here who needs to get to the Aqua resort, so could you help her out since she helped me-"

_"Ranger…!? …luck! Nema… her over right …ow! It's… emergency!"_ said the voice on the other end, now taking a worried tone.

"Daddy!? What's wrong!?"

_"I'm at… Wireless Tower…! Please… need backup or else they'll… oh no don't-"_ the radio emitted a high pitched, painful screech, then began playing static on all channels. After much trying and failing, Nema found that she could not contact her father. It wasn't due to the radio being broken, but rather

"There aren't any signals it can receive…" gasped the blue haired inventor. Something had clearly gone on in Wireless Tower, the central radio tower for all Oblivia- and the location of her father. For the giant radio tower to not emitting signals… something was wrong, and the worried tone in her father's voice didn't help Nema any.

"Don't worry Nema- I'm going to Wireless Tower." said Kairi, trailing off at a small dirt road that led to higher ground. Seeing that Nema was clearly worried, she left Trueman to try and comfort her.

The brunette set out, with Elecdos following "SO WHAT'S THE WORD? CAN YOU HELP ME FREE MY BRETHEREN?"

"Not yet! I have to go somewhere- Nema's father is in danger. He just sent us a transmission that he needed help, then we were abruptly cut off. And considering the state of Oblivia right now…" Kairi hurriedly ran up the dirt path, the electric bird spirit flying above.

"WHY? WHAT'S HAPPENING TO OBLIVIA THIS TIME?"

"Pokemon are being mind controlled by an evil group called… I have to say it again don't I… the 'Pokemon Pinchers'…" spat the brunette at the lame name.

"WOW. WHAT A LAME NAME…WAIT A MINUTE…"

* * *

><p><em>FLASHBACK<em>

_"WE FINALLY DID IT! WE FINALLY DEFEATED THE WHITE KNIGHT!" yelled Elecdos in his booming voice. The white knight had been killed by Trueman, the Sky Fortress was grounded and everything was returning back to normal._

_"Ah, it's so great to have peace again!" said Frigiduno, snuggling up to her husband, "And with the white knight gone, maybe we can finally have kids…"_

_"It's not over yet."_

_A new voice entered the area. This was Trueman, who had found a way for them to communicate. Next to him was a pale white skinned bald man in monk-like robes. This was Shadara, the Seer at the time. He said something to Trueman, who conveyed it in Pokenese_

_"Shadara says that in the future, the Sky Fortress will rise again, and Oblivia will be in great peril!"_

_Magtres, the flaming phoenix, gaped at this news "The white knight returns!?"_

_Trueman looked at Shadara and translated. The bald man looked downwards-his vision was very strange. In it, the white knight would actually return, and his Sky Fortress would rise, but the white knight was not the cause of the great peril to come. Therefore, Shadara relayed only what he knew:_

_"In the distant future, there will be a group of evil men who seek conquest. They will be able to capture Pokemon just like the white knight- except they will have a really, really lame name, and will be lame in general. However while by themselves they will hardly be a threat, they will awaken the Sky Fortress again, and then that will cause serious mayhem._

_But, there is hope: in this forsaken time, there will be a human who is pure of heart, who will be able to rescue those wronged and stop them from wrecking havoc!_

_…but that person cannot do it alone. The pure hearted one will need help…"_

_Trueman translated. The three birds looked at each other, not knowing what to do. That is, until Magtres had an idea: seal themselves so that after they had died, their souls would stay on earth for a little bit to help guide the pure hearted one to victory._

_"But who could possibly create something that great?" wondered the icy bird._

_"AH, DON'T FORGET WE HAVE THOSE TWO- LATIIS AND LATIOM!"_

_"Sure they're the greatest seals masters I've ever seen- but can they really do something of this magnitude?" argued Magtres._

_"I'll help. With my powers, it might be able to get done." said Trueman, "Come, let's make sure a disaster like this never happens again…!"_

* * *

><p><em>END FLASHBACK<em>

Elecdos blinked, eyes widened "I THOUGHT YOU SAID THIS WASN'T THE FORSAKEN TIME!?"

"What!?" Kairi was confused.

"NEVERMIND- WE HAVE TO QUICKLY UNSEAL MY FRIENDS AND WIFE! BEFORE THE SKY FORTRESS ARISES AGAIN!" screeched the lightning bird.

"Sky what now?!" none of what he said made any sense, but Kairi kept running and saw a giant station in the distance "Look, I'll unseal your friends later, right now I think something's happening at the Wireless Tower!"

As they drew closer and closer to the structure, the more Kairi was assured she was correct. Lightning flared all around the complex, the winds howled relentlessly and a light drizzle poured upon the ground. Eventually reaching an outpost directly next to the radio station, she saw a collapsed yellow haired man.

"What happened here?" demanded the brunette.

The man was weak, and barely conscious "Lame… name…" he spoke softly. Kairi narrowed her eyes- the Pokemon Pinchers were here. The man wasn't done yet, he pointed to some stairs leading farther up the tower "Rand… please… help him…"

He fainted, the physical exhaustion and the lameness of the Pincher's name finally wearing him out. Kairi gently laid him next to the sub building, then turned her attention to the stairs.

"Elecdos, are you with me?" asked Kairi.

"I SUPPOSE I MIGHT AS WELL." huffed the zapdos spirit. The human girl and pokemon ghost ran and flew up the stairs respectively. In not time at all they encountered Pinchers desperate to stand in their way. However, the evil men were incredibly lame and used weak Pokemon, so Kairi beat them all easily. This continued for about five floors, with each passing floor the storm seemed to be getting worse and worse.

Upon reaching the fifth floor, Kairi finally realized that the source of the storm was the top of the tower itself. Upon this revelation, Elecdos began to be afraid "IT COULDN'T BE…"

After defeating one last group of Pinchers, they reached the top. The top of the tower was flat, and had a couple helipads marked. A small control room was off to the side, and in the middle was a mysterious man in purple, holding something that seemed to be the cause of this unnatural storm.

"I KNEW IT! THAT'S ONE OF THE THREE SEALS!" shouted Elecdos, "KAIRI YOU HAVE TO STOP HIM- IF ALL THREE SEALS ARE BROKEN, THE SKY FORTRESS WILL RISE AGAIN!"

"Too late!" the man shouted. A blast of red and blue light emanated from the man, soaring upwards into the clouds. When it was done, the darkened skies remained, but the storm had vanished. The purple haired man grinned, then held up a small rock with a glowing red seal written upon it.

"It is done." he said, "And with the one retrieved from Rasp Cavern, that makes two…"

Kairi gaped, as somewhere in a secure prison, Blue Eyes grinned, for her mission was accomplished. The purple haired man held up another rock, with a blue seal written upon it.

"One more, and everyone will know that the Pokemon Pinchers are definitely not lame!"

Kairi pause.

"And Blake Hall will so totally want to hang out with us!"

Kairi paused again "Are you sure these guys are a threat?"

"WELL, THE SEER SAID THAT ONLY AFTER THE SKY FORTRESS IS BACK WOULD THEY BE A THREAT…"

"I am Purple Eyes, the leader of the Pokemon Pinchers!" said the man. With a snap of his fingers, he summoned a metagross, who growled dangerously. Kairi subconsciously took a step back- feraligatr were tough to be sure, but they were nothing compared to metagross.

"Elecdos, have any wisdom for me…?" asked Kairi. But when she turned around, the zapdos spirit was gone. It was just her, Purple Eyes and his raging steel type now.

_"Warning, extreme danger detected."_ her Styler beeped.

"I know that!" she screamed at the useless machine.

"Before I utterly smash you, I'm going to tell you my awesome plan, that way you can marvel at the might of the Pokemon Pinchers in your death!" declared Purple Eyes.

"…I am never going to marvel at anything with such a lame name…"

"IT IS NOT LAME! Er, I mean," Purple Eyes regained composure "What I mean to do is take over this radio tower, which I have, thus begins phase two of my plan!"

Kairi braced herself "Phase two involves wiring the radio station's circuitry making it respond only to my controls. And when that is achieved… we will make all of Oblivia cower before our choice selection of music!

We will blast such classical hits as 'Freaxx', 'Who Let The Dogs Out', 'Dance With Me', and everything by Justin Bieber!"

The brunette was just too shocked "Are you being this lame on purpose or something!? Because there is no way you're serious!"

At this point Purple Eyes was so insulted that he was at a loss for words. So he just sent his metagross to deal with Kairi.

The thing began shooting purple laser beams at Kairi's. Not your standard G-rated concussion blasts as seen on kids TV shows, but actual, dangerous, pierce through your mother freaking skin and bones laser blasts.

Kairi was able to see the attack coming, so she leapt out of the way. The metagross blasted its laser straight through the metal railing behind Kairi, destroying its base and causing a beam to collapse. Sparks flew as it fell and shook the platform.

"I'm not going to survive even one hit of that!" gaped the brunette, drawing out her Styler. Circling around the beam and coming up to the metagross, the thing saw her Styler and tried to blast away at it with another beam. But it was too small and too quick- the beam missed completely and shot harmlessly off into space.

"This is the ship that will take you to Earth- the Genext mk II." explained Uracil. Next to her were the Four Stars, as all four of them had gathered in a mission to Earth. Earlier that day, a laser beam had fired off from and earth space ship and put a hole in the queen's nice clean tower.

Thus, the Four Stars were chosen to go back to Earth and mess up the Hall of Origin, with graffiti or something.

"It's a bit small, but it will get you to Earth in two days." said Uracil, pointing to a sleek silver colored vessel. She adjusted her glasses "So, please be careful…"

"I don't know the meaning of the word! LET'S GO!" declared Gaunine, their ever fearless leader. Just before they got into the ship, a purple laser beam came from out of nowhere and blasted the control panels, rendering the vessel useless.

The confused extraterrestrials blinked.

"What… just… happened…?"

"It came from Earth!" said a shocked Uracil, reading something on a portable screen.

"THOSE EARTHLING BASTRADS WILL PAY!" vowed Guanine in a scary voice.

Kairi was not faring too well with the Metagross. One wrong move and it was light out forever, so she approached the thing cautiously, scarcely looping around it every so often. However she knew that this method would have little effect.

"Metagross- Hyper Beam!" commanded Purple Eyes. The machine like pokemon launched a black multicolored beam directly at Kairi. The beam was so huge and so powerful, that Kairi had to block by creating a shield with her Styler. The energy beam collided and created a large explosion which knocked Kairi back into in the control room wall.

She ached- that was another major blow dealt to her.

"Hah! How do you like that!? Not so lame anymore, huh!?" taunted Purple Eyes. Footsteps speared to their right. A new figure emerged- a tall man with black hair and a black moustache.

"What the-? I thought I got rid of you already!" Purple eyes scowled. Kairi peered closely at the man- he had a Ranger's uniform!

"You did, knocking me off the tower like that…!" said the man angrily "Luckily I'm a bit tougher than that- and with the help of a Staraptor…"

The man shook his head, then noticed Kairi "I take it you're the help I asked for?"

"Yeah, mind giving me a hand with this thing?" Kairi stood back up, realizing this was Nema's father. She took a defensive stance, and the man silently shook his head.

"Sorry, my Styler is out of juice." said Nema's father, "But, this guy thinks you can do it alone so long as you have this-"

He threw something at Kairi's feet. It was a stone statue, akin to the one on the island they were non previously. Looking back up, she saw none other than Elecdos standing beside the adult ranger "DO IT PURE HEARTED ONE! RELEASE MAGTRES!"

Kairi grasped the stone and held it up. A bright light permeated the area as ancient seals began to be released. A final blast of light shot to the heavens, and a giant flaming bird emerged from the statue.

"I am Magtres, guardian of fire!" shrieked the bird, "Are you the pure hearted one!?"

"I am!…I guess…" shrugged Kairi. Elecdos floated over

"DUDE, THE DOOMSDAY PROPHECY IS ON! POKEMON ARE BEING MIND CONTROLLED, MEANING IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THE SKY FORTREE IS BACK!"

"Fric. Well then, pure hearted one," the flaming phoenix turned to the brunette ranger "go defeat them for us! We will provide any wisdom you may need!"

"How do you defeat a metagross and protect yourself from laser beams that can kill you in one hit while not knowing any kind of Pokemon move?" asked Kairi immediately.

A pause.

"Uh… well… Uh…" Magtres began thinking "Oh I know! Use your Brain Powers!"

Kairi smacked herself.

The metagross charged at her with a Zen Headbutt attack. Kairi made a shield in front of herself, and the 1 ton Pokemon smashed into it, dealing minimal damage but pushing her straight back. In mere moments she was on the precipice of the platform- one step backward and she would be met with 200 feet of falling.

"I'm… sorry…"

There was a small voice, a whisper. The girl realized that it came from the metagross- because now Kairi could hear what they were saying. Even though it continued to pound her shield, and even with its angry expression, she could see the pain behind the false rage.

"I never… wanted… to hurt… I'm… sorry…" it continued.

A brightness overtook Kairiu's body. The source of it was her shield; created by four blue lines now turned rainbow colored with pure power. Kairi's white eyes had a small shine to them as she pushed back the metagross with her newly empowered Styler.

"What the-!?" Purple Eyes gasped

"You idiots really don't know anything, do you?" Kairi could feel the rage bubbling up inside her "It's suffering can't you see!? They all suffer when you do this! What kind of monsters are you people!?"

Instinctively Kairi felt her Styler and launched it out. It zoomed at super speed, using the lines to form an intricate symbol above the metagross' body- one Kairi had seen many times before.

"Octagonal Alcatraz!"

The symbol slammed into the steel type Pokemon, it letting out a roar as the immense energy filled its body. In moments an almost blinding light surrounded the iron leg Pokemon, then burst into nothingness.

It was cured. Free from the chains around its mind. The metagross looked at Kairi with awe, realizing it was itself again "…thank… you…" it said slowly and deliberately.

"Your welcome." replied Kairi in perfect Pokespeak. She turned to Purple Eyes "And as for you!"

The purple haired man tried to get away, but Kairi formed a barrier with her newly empowered Styler. It zoomed around him so fast that there was no way he could turn to escape "W-Wait, please!"

Then, leaping off the sides, the male Ranger quickly grabbed Purple Eyes and restrained him by putting him into an arm lock, then quickly wrapping a few cuffs on his wrists "Name's Rand by the way." he said to both Kairi and his capture.

"Kairi, rank 3 ranger." she introduced herself.

"Rank three? The heck you are with a Super Styler technique like that!" laughed Rand. Kairi presumed he meant the strange new energy flowing through her Styler. She would have to ask him about that later.

"WELL, IT LOOKS LIKE THERE WAS NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT AFTER ALL." shouted Elecdos, "WITH THEIR LEADER CAPTURE, I GUESS THE DOOMSDAY PROPHECY CAN'T WORK AFTER ALL."

Suddenly from out of nowhere a small metallic sphere hit and knocked over Rand. Kairi thought it was Anarchaoss for a second, but it was actually some sort of robot. It knocked over Purple Eyes as well, then quickly stole his two stone seals from his pocket.

"What the-!?"

The drone rose a few feet in the air, then turned its small red eye at Kairi _"Well, that was unexpected."_ it said.

"Who are you…!?"

_"The REAL leaders of the Pinchers."_ said a different voice _"Purple Eyes, you disobeyed us by trying to lead the organization on your own. For this, you are dismissed."_

"Aw…" moaned the purple haired man.

_"With two of the stone seals in our grasp, we merely need one more to awaken the Sky Fortress."_ said another different voice.

_"Indeed."_ said a final mysterious voice, _"You see Kairi, it's all over. We already know where the last seal is, and there's no way you can stop us. Soon the entire world will bow before our power! For we are grand organization, greater than the knights templar, the illuminati, area fifty one and the Disney Channel combined! Together with out love of tea, we are known as…_

_The SocieTea."_

A pause.

Kairi: "Lame."

Robot: _"IT IS NOT LAME IT'S AN AWESOME NAME!"_


	18. Doomsday Prophecy- Revised Version

Chapter fifty four: Doomsday Prophecy- Revised Version

* * *

><p>Arceus stood alone in a secure room. It was a plain steel colored section of the 96th floor, with a simple screen on one of its walls. The room was more advanced than it looked though- it allowed anyone with the title of God to communicate with anyone, anywhere and privately. With one major exception as of recent times.<p>

However, General White had agreed to a talk this time.

At precisely eight o cloak PM, the screen flickered to life. In seconds, Arceus was face to face with an aging man. Wrinkles across his body, he wore a white pinstripe suit, with a ghostly pale colored moustache and beard. A cap sat upon his balding head.

"Arceus." stated the lord of Sapien City.

"Shiro." stated the legendary leader. The man narrowed his eyes "Call me general White, or Lord White if you will."

"Very well, general." said Arceus. She could already tell she was getting on his nerves- he hated Pokemon. He hated them so much that he created an entire city without them. He hated them so much, he might do something as drastic as teaming up with Team Rocket.

"I'll cut to the chase, since I doubt you want to speak with me long." said Arceus insightfully. White nodded his head, eyes full of despise.

"The first order of business is this: we have evidence you may be incorporated with Team Rocket."

His expression was blank, his thoughts unknown. Arceus continued "I shouldn't have to tell you that associating with them is forbidden by every country on this planet. I hope for your sake you aren't conspiring with those horrible people."

"Conspiring?" White noted her choice in words "You believe I'm going to do something drastic in the future? When for over fifty years my city has remained clean?"

"I truly hope not." stated the godlike being.

"And just what gives you the right to accuse me of such?" sneered the man.

"Because I know you better than anyone, Shiro." Arceus gazed into his eyes, trying to read his hidden expression "And…We have something of suspicion as well."

"Suspicion?" he narrowed his eyes. With some psychic power, Arceus lifted up a shiny CD and inserted into the TV. In moments, it began playing.

The short of the video that started went like this: an Angel went berserk. An Angel, a weapon created by Sapien City for 'peacekeeping purposes'; they could move faster than sound, topple buildings by punching them, were equipped to fly, fire laser beams and various other machinery. They had the equivalent power of a class Four legendary.

One of the ten had gone berserk. A million and one error occurred- its nuclear fusion reactor accidentally overheated a part of its internal circuitry. The end result was that it believed everything to be its enemy and attacked everything in sight.

_"We're running out of power!" _screamed a voice on the shaky video camera. The general watched the video, expressionless.

The soldiers had used a grand total of twelve laser cannons to subdue the thing, but all they could do is back it into a corner- the Angel's hide was too sophisticated to be penetrated by their blasts.

Just then, a new figure entered the scene. A black haired human, with a grey colored trench coat.

_"You can't hold him forever right? That's why I'm here. Call off your men, go get a doughnut or something..."_

And the head of the task force obeyed. With a single command, the task force disbanded and ceased their bombardment on the machine. As the Angel got up and terrified soldiers fled the area, one of them remarked something very interesting.

_"That thing doesn't stand a chance against Gin."_

Immediately after this line was spoken, a surge of unknown power destroyed the camera recorder all of this, for the screen went to static.

"…how did you get that footage?" wondered Lord White aloud.

"The secret agents."

"Ah, Neon. I should have suspected as much." said White, surprising Arceus with his information on the head's name "Well, allow me to commend you on breaking into our security footage, but I hardly see how that is evidence of 'scheming'."

"That human just said it had no chance again this 'Gin'. A class Four, having no chance against something is hardly common."

"He was just overreacting to Gin's celebrity like presence."

"Then how did you get rid of an Angel when all the others ones didn't activate!?" Arceus fired back.

"Classified information." replied the general calmly.

For a time, there was silence. White remained unnervingly still, and Arceus' fierce look tried to pierce his gaze "I don't want to believe you will act, Shiro, but I-"

"Don't call me that." said the aging man "You have no right to call me that anymore."

"…I only did what I did for the safety of the world." God said simply.

"No, you did if for that precious orb of yours. That small purple sphere, which weighs more than two billion Ribonian lives, and five million human ones. Good job helping cause the Fourth Great Destruction."

"It almost fell into the wrong hands." Arceus stated, "You know as well as I do that if they had succeeded-"

"IF they had succeeded." said the general "IF they could harness infinite power, IF they could wield it without blowing themselves to smithereens. You could have waited for me, you could have trusted me instead of your goddamn brother."

"…" Arceus had no reply.

"If that's all you wanted me for, I'm leaving. I can't stand the sight of you anymore."

The screen flickered off.

* * *

><p>The group met back at Rands house to discuss the situation. Briefly, Elecdos explained once again that if this new threat, the 'SoceiTea' managed to retrieve all three seals, then by inserted them into Sky Fortress it would rise again and Oblivia would be in peril.<p>

Magtres told them that the only solution was for Kairi to release all five of the ancient spirits- then their wisdom could guide the girl to defeating the awful Fortress once and for all.

"And there's one more detail," Magtres continued. By watching Kairi's battle carefully, he saw that the gloves the pinchers had used were similar in nature to the dreaded Golden Armor- a device that the White Knight had used to both control the Sky Fortress and mass mind control Pokemon to his bidding.

"The fact that they have made these forgeries… means that the Societea most likely has the Golden Armor on hand." meaning of course, a Pokemon based assault would be all but impossible- it would take a human to defeat these empowered villains.

"So then, where's the last seal?" Rand asked, his daughter in his lap. Magtres shook his head- the last seal was inside of a volcano, along with Frigiduno's spirit. It was once known as 'Great Burning Island' but since the landscape had changed in the last millinia he had no idea where it was.

"No, I think I know…" said Rand, thinking back "There's a volcano to the north named Faldera Volcano. It surrounded by treacherous rocks, and it's still active so there's no telling when it could erupt. That must be it."

"I hope so…" said the fire spirit. Kairi was anxious"How do we get there?"

"It won't be easy… we can't just fly there on plane nor Pokemon… and going by boat is incredibly dangerous, we'd need a skilled captain…" Rand murmured to himself, "Kairi, it's late and you've been injured. You need to rest. I'll figure out how we are to get there."

Kairi was about to protest, but realized he was right. She was in pitiful shape, fighting two ultra hard bosses in one day. The girl looked down- her uniform was tattered and nearly ripped everywhere. She would definitely need a new uniform soon.

"And of course, my friend Burkhart is trying his best to fix the Wireless Tower, so that you can contact Ruby."

"We're in a real mess, aren't we daddy?" said Nema softly.

"We are…" her father agreed, "Frankly, I think the only one we can count on now is-"

The door slammed open.

And then she arrived.

Her elegant rainbow hair billowed in the moonlight, reflecting all seven colors of the rainbow, even though it paled in comparison to her goddess like beauty. With eyes like jade emeralds, if only they had more than one color, she gave off a beauteous gleam of unbridled fury and calm.

Her succulent breasts were large and round, contained in a tight top meant to show off every bit of her mature body, letting everyone know how much better she was than Kairi. Her lovely feet were cushioned in light airy shoes that seemed to be so daintily poisoned she could start of Swan Lake at any moment and perform it better than anyone before.

"OH SH*T NOT NOW." Kairi yelled in a rare cursing moment. For the one who walked in was none other than Marriland Singapore Raven Sparklight Le-blanc Ariari Nina Tzu.

Mary Tzu for short.

"I heard you needed my help!" she said in a sweet yet firm yet strong yet awesomely badass voice. Kairi hit the table in a threatening manner

"No we don't! Go bug someone else, we're in the middle of important matters here!"

"Gasp, how rude!" cried the Sue in a sweet yet sorrowful yet angry and beauteous voice "Why are you so jealous of my looks Kairi? Don't you knows it's a curse to be this beautiful, not to mention I'm the greatest Ranger besides Zero?"

"Um…" Trueman tried interrupting but the two were already at it.

"You're not a great Ranger! I've never seen you do a thing!"

"That's because all my missions are so dangerous that I must go alone else people get hurt, but I'd make an exception for you!"

"Bull!"

"Deny it all you want, but I know you're envious of my amazing tits!"

"That's… That's not…" actually Mary Tzu had Kairi on that one, "S-Size doesn't matter!"

"That's not what Zero thinks~"

Rand broke up the two feuding woman and told them to quit it. He told Mary Tzu that she could help them, since they were on the brink of fulfilling a doomsday prophecy and needed all the help they could get. Kairi tried to get Trueman to mind wipe them with his mysterious powers, but Trueman refused since he figured they needed help.

"You all will regret this…" vowed Kairi, knowing the Tzu would ruin things eventually. She left for her bedroom in a huff.

"WELL, WE'D BETTER GET TO BED TOO. WE'VE HAD A LONG DAY AND I'M TIRED." said Elecdos, yawning.

"Do ghosts even need sleep?" questioned Nema.

A pause.

"GODDAMN IT."

"I guess we have to wait until they're awake, huh…?" Magtres said to himself. Elecdos cursed again, then went to find something to do.

"I too shall get rest! For tomorrow I have a world to save~!" spoke the Tzu. In an elegant and badass way, she gracefully leapt out the door to find sanctuary for sleep.

The brunette Ranger took off her dirty and shredded clothing, unhooked her belt and placed her Styler on the desk beside her bed. Laying in the bed, Kairi was too anxious for sleep. A doomsday prophecy was about to unfold in Oblivia, and apparently only she could stop it. This sounded like the crazy stuff that happened to her friends.

_"Don't forget, you're part of Calestia now!"_

Ah but that's right, she's also part of the group, so it made sense this sort of thing would happen. She sighed to herself, but inwardly smiled. The Aqua Resort was still so far away, and with the radio station broken they had no way of getting into contact with them, or Ruby.

Her thoughts turned to her partner. She briefly flashbacked to the day when she first met the crazy shiny. Her father was a Pokemon habitat specialist, and one day he brought over two gardevoir, along with their daughter who strangely was born with blue hair.

_"Kairi, I know you want to be a Ranger when you grow up, and this young one here wants to help the Rangers in the future. So I figured maybe you and she should team up?"_

_A younger Kairi looked at the newcomer. The ralts displayed extreme overconfidence in everything, and in a proud voice the small child proclaimed "Hi, my name is Ruby! I was born blue so that means I'm a fire type!"_

_"Eh?" the ten year old version of Kairi wondered "Is that true?"_

_"Duh! Watch this!" the ralts fired off a Confusion attack and called it Ember._

And over the course of six whole years, they had been comrades, partners, and friends. Ruby still insisted she was a fire type, but in the end her little quirk was kind of cute.

She remembered Ranger Academy, how at first all of the students had been jealous she had an alternate colored Pokemon. One in particular…

_"Well I'll have you know that my partner Pokemon is EVERY Pokemon in the world!" huffed a blonde haired egotic girl._

Mary Tzu. Kairi frowned at the memory, that girl was just more trouble than she was worth. And the fact that she bragged all the time hardly helped her case. Even back then she was like that, Kairi did not know why.

One thing she did know was that almost immediately after meeting her, she met someone else.

_A blonde boy stood up and wrote his name on the chalkboard. A name that would one day go down in infamy - Zero Mitsurashi. Transfer students hardly got into the school due to the rigorous testing beforehand. Zero was a major exception._

_One of the tests they used was a Psychometer- a device which measured how strong of a thought-wave you could send to a machine, an obviously critical matter for the Capture Styler. You were ranked on a score of 1-10, if you received a four or higher you were admitted. And that was where Zero's case came in._

_His thought-waves were so high he broke the meter when they tested him._

_"I don't have a partner Pokemon, and I don't want one." he spoke in an eerie voice, "I also don't want to be friends with any of you. As long as you ignore me, there won't be any problems."_

While his speech was pretty creepy, Kairi of course was smitten by his bad boy attitude. For a while though, he outright shoved her aside whenever she tried to talk with him. About a month or two of his admittance, his scores were top in the school but he still hadn't made a single friend. Kairi herself was about to give up.

But then… a fateful event occurred one day…

_"A-Are you serious?" their teacher spoke on the phone, her mouth agape with awe "O-Okay! I'll let them know immediately!" she hung up the phone and stood up "Class, I have an announcement before we continue- the elite eight are visiting our school tomorrow!"_

_The elite eight were, as their name implied, the eight greatest rangers currently in existence. They all held spots 1-8 in the top rangers list, and all of them were good friends so they formed a tight knit group._

_Number eight was Elias, a man of short stature, only measuring about two feet tall. He was a black haired man with a beard who liked to casually dress. He had a Bug Styler, with a PMC that let him use String Shot to summon strings and take down his opponent. He always rode in atop his giant yanmega._

_Number seven was Chun, a man who hardly spoke. Contrasting to Elias, he was abnormally tall and large in width. He had dark skin and a ground Styler from which he could use the move Spikes to set traps. His partner Pokemon was a somewhat lazy donphan._

_The number six was a fierce purple haired woman named Ayame. Her Styler could use Dragon Pulse to utterly crush anything in its path. Akin to her way of fighting, she was always brash and foreword, if not a little rude. Akin to her trainer, her Haxorus was an almost berserk Pokemon with crazy high power._

_Steven, the number five, was largely unknown. He was covered from head to tow in a black grab akin to a ninja's. Save for a strand of silver hair, no one knew what he really looked like. His ghost Styler let him use Spite to quickly drain a Pokemon's ability to use moves. This combined with his partner gengar, who could hit well offensively, made him a formidable force._

_Number four was Marcus, a former grass type trainer turned ranger. His grass Styler let him use Cotton Spore to cover himself or his opponents in giant fluff to impede attacks. Somewhat of a loner, he was still the most normal looking of the group- plain with black hair and glasses. He often had to rely on his talkative breloom to get into group discussions._

_Three and two were Maria and Lucy respectively. Twins, the two looked completely identical and even their personalities had overlap. The only way to tell them apart were by the red and blue ribbons in their light pink hair. Their fire and water Stylers could use Lava Plume and Octazooka respectively, which complimented their partners magmar and starmie._

_And finally, their leader and the greatest top ranger at the time, Vladmir. A somewhat large man with a great white beard and moustache combination, he had a thin and lanky appearance. Despite his fearsome appearance, he was actually one of the nicest people one could meet, if not a bit strict. He had an ice Styler, that was able to use Ice Beam. In addition he had an equally competent partner in a weavile._

_Closing her eyelids, Kairi thought back to those eight, which both she and Zero had met._

_They had changed Zero's life forever._

* * *

><p><strong><em>Six Days Later<em>**

At about this time in another part of the world, Mewtwo was attacking an illusionary Absolix created from his own imagination, while Regice as revived by Celebi and escaped along with the other two keys.

But for the time being no one knew what was happening, or what was about to happen. In Oblivia, the citizens were concerned with the threat of the SocieTea as opposed to Xeno or Regigigas. At this time, Kairi woke up. Thanks to the wonders of modern medicine, she was completely healed from her battles six days ago. She was ready to take on the dreaded SocieTea.

Which were a lot more threatening than their name sounded.

The brunette began to put on her new clothes that Rand and his daughter had picked up. She put on a blue and red styled shirt that came to her stomach, along with blue colored shorts reaching to mid thigh. Two heavy looking red boots were next, followed by some green gloves. One of these was her Styler glove, admitted to those who proved their worth but to Rand Kairi already had.

Aside from that, she put her bandana, once on her forehead, across her right arm. Gazing in the mirror quickly, she found that her eyes had become less blue and had taken a whiter coloring with some green mixed in. This gave her a somewhat ethereal look, which she somewhat enjoyed.

When she was done dressing, a single hard knock was heard on the door followed by a masculine voice saying "We have a boat."

Kairi emerged from her room and went downstairs where, sitting at the table, everyone awaited her. Rand, Nema, Trueman, the legendary bird spirits, and even Mary Tzu all sat around the square table.

The words "Board of War" was written upon the table.

"Board of War?" questioned Kairi, taking her seat. The two legendary birds reported that it sounded cool, therefore they wrote it. Rand shrugged, while Nema and Trueman gave a thumbs up.

"OKAY LET'S GET STARTED." said Elecdos. He nodded to Rand, indicating he was the first to speak.

"The good news is we found a boat. The Ranger Union has business here a year ago, and so they left their ship _The Union_ in a shipyard not to far from here." said the black mustached man, "And as it so happens, we have a perfect captain to take us there- former Elite Four member Drake is here on vacation, and he agreed to use his expertise to help us. We can get to Faldera Volcano."

"…what about the aqua resort?" Kairi had to ask, "Ruby's still there, and she…"

"This is no time to be worried about your lame partner, Kairi." said Mary in a superior yet understanding and beauteous tone "We have to get to Faldera first and take care of the SocieTea-" everyone cringed at the name "-before they get their hands on the super weapon."

"But-!"

"Don't worry Kairi, we've almost got the radio fixed." grinned Nema "We'll get in touch with Ruby as soon as we can!"

Slowly, the brunette accepted the facts. They had wasted six days waiting, which did not help their odds- maybe the nefarious group already had the last seal… "Okay. So what's the plan?"

Rand explained their approach "Kairi, since you're the pure hearted one and since the birds think Frigiduno is on the island, we'll pick her up first. A group composed of me, you, and Mary Tzu will infiltrate the volcano, with the birds to back us up."

"Wait, I want to come too!" said Trueman, "I uh, I'm the next seer we think, so maybe I'll be able to help!"

"It's true, he is." said Kairi, having completely forgotten about Trueman's strange powers because of him and their conversation earlier. Rand pondered this, but gave the thumbs down- Trueman was still too young, and seer to be or not it was going to be more dangerous than ever.

"But…but…" Trueman frowned, struggling to think of something without activating his abilities.

"Well that's settled!" announced the golden haired Tzu, "Let's head to the dock! And just in case Drake fails us, don't worry because I also have great seafaring skills! Why once I saved Monkey D. Luffy when Nami got sick and-"

But Kairi had already exited "Hey! Wait for me!" called the Tzu in a joyous and sad yet marvelous voice. Rand went back to his daughter, telling her that her mother would be home soon. Wishing them good luck, Rand exited the house.

* * *

><p>Gin Takamura, the black haired secret weapon, sat in a simple chair reading a book. The room was dark, with a single bare bulb overhead to help him see. Casually, he flipped another page "Who are you want do you want?" he yawned.<p>

Anarchaoss was in the room. The tall steel type still had an ever present grin upon his face, his normal eye narrowed while his crazy eye was widened. With a somewhat mechanical motion, he walked over to Gin and flung him into another dimension.

Anarchaoss and Gin were now in purple colored dimension, with cubical structures everywhere. The man with the billowing trench coat wasn't the least bit bothered by this. He carefully placed a bookmark in his book, then put it inside his large grey colored coat.

"Are you here to kill me?" wondered Gin aloud, "Because if you are, things will work out in the exact opposite of what you think will happen. I can't be killed, see."

However, this was not the steel type's goal "What do you know about Escodia?" he asked in a low voice.

Takamura looked surprised for a second.

He grinned.

* * *

><p>"Yes, I've sailed there before," said a white haired man in a sailors uniform. An aged salamence was next to him, occasionally monitoring the boat, but mostly just resting. This was Drake, a dragon type master and former member of the Elite Four in Hoenn "so we'll get there in one piece."<p>

"Good…" Rand breathed a sigh of relief. They had just set sail, luckily The Union had variable speed, so now they were headed very quickly to the Faldera volcano.

"However, I need to ask you a favor." said Drake, looking at Rand seriously in the eye "Once you get on the island…

If you find the one piece you have to give it to me." he finished.

A bead of sweat formed on Rand's face "Wrong story I think…"

"Yes, but Gol D. Roger was a crafty one…" said Drake in a mysterious voice, "It would hardly surprise me if he hid his treasure in another series…"

Rand began to sweat drop again.

Thanks to their grand and somewhat senile captain, within an hour they had arrived at the island. Drake carefully navigated through the hidden rocks and reefs, and it was smooth sailing until they landed on the beach, a worn out dock from long ago there to greet them.

On the base of the small island, they saw several broken drones, akin to the one they saw back on the tower. This of course meant that the Societea had been here.

"We have to move, prevent them from getting the last seal." Rand mused, hopping aboard the island. Kairi and Mary Tzu swiftly followed. The two deceased spirits were last, "DO YOU SEE THE STONE WHERE MY WIFE IS?"

It did not take much searching to find out where the stone was. It was in plain view, the lack of civilization made it possible for it to remain undisturbed despite the passage of time. But before Kairi could grab the statue and release Frigiduno, the Sue intervened.

"Being that I am the greatest Ranger with the purest heart and able to befriend every single Pokemon alive, I should be able to release it!" said the blonde haired girl before running over to the statue.

"Um, Mary, I think only Kairi can release the birds." pointed out Rand, "After all, she's the pure hearted one and you're-"

As soon as Mary Tzu's hand touched the statue, a golden light poured out of it. When it was done, much to the amazement of everyone in the area, the spirit of Frigiduno appeared.

"Ah, the pure hearted one." nodded the icy bird to the grinning Mary. She looked over and saw the stunned faces of her husband and his best friend.

"I… I DON'T… BELIEVE IT…" Elecdos stammered, "TWO PURE HEARTED ONES…?"

"Well of course, I said I was the greatest didn't I?" she smirked at Kairi in a superior tone "Well, I'd better take care of the grunts and the bosses so… teleport!"

And just like that, she warped out of there presumably to fight off the grunts on the inside. Kairi was aghast, Mary Tzu hadn't been lying when she said all of those things about herself. But… how was it possible she could do those things!?

"We don't have time for that, she might need help in there!" pointed out Magtres. Instantly the focus was not on Kairi, but the beautiful girl with numerous powers. Kairi was undeterred and headed on the inside of the volcano, determined to do her best regardless.

Inside, she saw the unconscious bodied of several mean wearing metallic armor, confirmed by Frigiduno to be forgeries of the sacred golden armor. Though the heat was intense the group went further and further up the volcano, finding unconscious grunts along the way.

Finally, they reached the summit. It was a small area where the volcano's mouth was not seen, the pinnacle of the mountain. There, they found Mary Tzu, fighting with a singular drone over the last seal.

_"Insolent girl!"_ the robot screeched _"You… you cannot win!"_

Mary Tzu was fighting alongside several Pokemon she encountered along the way- a magmortar, a tyranitar and a charizard, all extremely strong and difficult to capture Pokemon. Alongside them was her opponent- a salamence summoned by the Societea. She displayed incredible intellect and tenacity in fighting it, so far the two were evenly matched.

"I'll help!" Kairi yelled, running over. But as soon as she heard the words, Mary Tzu glared at her, which somehow rendered Kairi unable to move.

"I don't need your help!" she shouted in an angry voice. Getting serious, she used her temporary anger to transform herself into Super Saiyan 5. Summoning her chakra, she used it to empower her Pokemon, which they were able to use to fire off a massive Hyper Beam like attack which took down the salamence once and for all.

As the dragon dropped to the ground, Mary Tzu turned back to normal, but used her skills to punch the drone anyway, which sent it crashing into the floor, nearly broken _"Im…possible…! How can you do all of this…!?"_

Mary Tzu casually flicked a hair out of her gorgeous eyes and smiled, "Because I am the greatest Ranger to have ever existed, save maybe Zero. And you who are an enemy to good shall never win against me."

While Kairi was still paralyzed, the three spirit birds and Rand went over to congratulate her on her victory.

"I thought Kairi was the pure hearted one but you… you're something else!" said Magtres in awe.

"Great job!" Rand smiled.

Kairi, still stuck on the floor, could barely move her mouth but she still had to try and warn everyone "No!… be careful! She'll ruin everything somehow!"

Mary Tzu stood over Kairi, smirking at her groveling arch enemy "For shame Kairi. I know you wanted to prove yourself, but in the end these things are better left to people like me. It isn't your fault though- not everyone can have as much power as I can…"

Mary Tzu trailed off, hearing something. Emerging from the clouds, unaffected by the hanging storms, was a large airship. It fired off a couple missiles at the mouth of the volcano, but Mary Tzu casually flew up to them and opened up a dimensional wormhole, sending the missiles flying to another universe.

With great ninja skills, she brought down the ship and caught the real culprit behind the SocietTa- four old people wearing separate parts of the golden armor. One was a white and blue haired doctor like man, another man looked like a magician, the only female of the group was dressed casually, and the last was a large and rough looking man.

All four were powerless before Mary, as she brought them to the floor.

"So this is the true power of a Sue…" mused Frigiduno. The four old men, led by the doctor figure, looked at the multicolored girl harshly.

"My abilities far surpass yours, that's all there is to it." said Mary Tzu.

"So close…!" the doctor cursed "So close to obtaining ultimate power…! If only we had the last seal…!"

"BUT YOU DON'T DO YOU?" smiled Elecdos "WELL, I'D SAY THIS MISSION IS A WRAP. MAYBE NOW WE CAN ASCEND TO THE AFTERLIFE/DISNEYLAND."

"Hold up." Mary Tzu said, leaning down, "Do you really still believe you could match me with this legendary weapon of yours?"

"Of course." said the female of the group, "The Sky Fortress is invincible! Even you would crumble before its might!"

There was an odd hanging silence in the air, the Sue apparently contemplating something. Kairi could tell that she was going to act rashly. Sure enough, Mary Tzu flew over to the last seal and broke it off of the containment rock. Then, smiling, she put the last of the three seals right into the hands of the Societea leader and set them free.

"What are you doing!?" shouted Magtres in fear, his horrified look shared by everyone else.

"I'm letting them have it." smiled the Sue, still feeling total control of the situation "They need to learn their lesson- that I am the greatest! So what I'm going to do is let them have it, release the Sky Fortress, and then beat them again so that they'll never do anything evil again!"

"Wh-what!?" Frigiduno gasped at the insane logic "No, the Sky Fortress can't be released! Disaster5/31/13 will-"

"Nothing will happen." said Mary Tzu, speaking over the ice spirit. In a flash, she teleported the four leaders into the central compound of the Sky Fortress. Before Kairi could scream again, it was too late and the four evil-doers were gone.

"Well, all that's left to do it wait." smirked the curvaceous girl, "So I'll head to the seventh dimension, they have a killer restaurant there!"

And then she made a portal and soon she was gone.

Kairi was released from her spell, she stood up and shouted to the heavens that Mary Tzu was an idiot. The three legendary birds gathered around in a circle, trying to formulate a plan now that the Sky Fortress' release was inevitable.

Unfortunately, before they could come up with anything, it happened.

There was a huge sound, as if something had just pried itself from the ground. Looking over to an area called the Oblivia ruins, they saw to their horror a rising rotund ship. The thing was huge, being at least the size of a small mountain. It was egg shaped but had several sinister looking protrusions from itself, as well as four gigantic cannons mounted on either side.

The Sky Fortress rose and rose, until it was at level with the clouds, where a barrier formed around it. The preparation was done.

Doomsday was now.

"No…" said Frigiduno, a look of pure terror on she and the three bird's faces.

_"Attention Oblivia."_ the Sky Fortress was able to project the voices of the SocieTea through ought the region, _"Look to the sky. You will find that the Sky Fortress, which long ago was used to subjugate this entire region, is now active once again._

_We, the SocieTea, will now assume total command over Oblivia! Together with our golden armor, and this vast fortress, nothing can stop us from achieving our reign!_

_But for those brave souls who want to challenge us, we will provide a quick demonstration of our power. Does anyone know Dolce Island, a small island close to Renbow Island?"_

Suddenly, one of the main cannons began to fire up. A bright fiery light emerged from inside of the barrel, and just when the light became overwhelming a shot was heard. A great beam was launched from the barrel, great in size, colliding with Dolce Island.

The rock and sand never stood a chance- within seconds the island was obliterated in a humongous explosion. It, and everything on it, was blasted into nothingness.

Rand fell to his knees "All those wild Pokemon…All those… they were still on the island you bastards!" he cried in futility.

_"You see? Dolce Island is now ash. That will be the fate of all who oppose us. But just in case any pesky Ranger get any ideas about trying to stop us anyway…"_

There was some shuffling heard, and a new voice entered the area _"H-Hello!? Rand!? Nema"_

The brunette Ranger had no idea who the voice was. But Rand did "Leanne!?" he shouted in fear.

More shuffling _"We found a certain archaeologist at the Ruins before activating this thing, Rand. So if you even think about opposing us… know that your dear wife is in our care._

_Now for our first act as rulers of Oblivia, we decree that everyone in the region must hand over all their money to us. Oh, and we know how much money should be in each region, so if you decide not to pay us we'll be tempted to fire the main cannon again._

_We will collect in five hours. Good day._"

The group had rendezvous at Rand's house once again, minus the missing Tzu and gaining another spirit. The man himself was boiling with rage, but forced to contain it for the sake of his daughter, who was in his lap crying.

Trueman had his head low, in deep thought. Kairi was conversing with the legendary birds, trying to think of something.

"No, attacks don't work on it!" said Magtres in a hopeless voice "Didn't you see its shield? It deflects everything thrown at it!"

"Then… then we need to take out the shield somehow!"

"Impossible! Do you know what it took last time!?" asked Frigiduno, "The last time we did this, we needed Latiis and Latiom, two of the greatest seals masters in the world! I don't suppose you know two other seals masters we can contact at this time do you!?"

Kairi had nothing. The situation was becoming more and more hopeless- with the shield in the way, any kind of assault was impossible. And even if they could launch missiles at it or whatever, there was still the threat of Rand's wife being held hostage.

"Damn it…!" Kairi cursed, refusing to lose hope "What about the radio!? We can use it to contact my friends!"

"Your friends… Calestia?" Rand sighed helplessly "What could they do?"

"Trust me when I say those guys can do anything." Kairi said seriously, "I'm a member. I would know."

"The radio still isn't-" the black haired man was cut off by a piece of static from his Styler. Soon the static disappeared and words became audible: _"Hello hello? Rand, are you there?"_

Hesitantly, Rand picked it up "Yes…?"

_"The radio is working again! This call proves it!"_ said the happy voice of Burkard on the other side. _"We're back online! I'm calling the Ranger Union right now!"_

A mere thirty minutes later, Burkhard had reported in the entire situation over to the Ranger Union, who relayed it to the base in Almia, who in turn, relayed the message to the rest of Calestia.

"Sky Forretress!?" exclaimed Darkrai, "I had no idea they could fly!"

_"Sky FORTRESS." _said Kairi on the other end. Setting up a connection was easy now that they had the giant tower working again. Kairi was glad to see them, well, mostly glad anyhow.

_"So what happened on your end? Why is everyone injured?"_

"Basically…" Darkrai began, "Celebi defected so the three keys unsealed Giga, who turns out actually exists, and then Xeno appeared and he got crazy so I almost died but I beat him up anyways."

Kairi paused.

"I also tried to beat up Absolix. Didn't work though…" the prince of darkness said sadly.

Even though the brunette hardly understood anything that he said, Kairi was still glad to speak with them again after a grueling seven days.

"So, seems like things are bad on your end as well…" mused the prince of darkness.

_"Can you help?"_ asked Kairi.

"No…" the prince of darkness thought about it, "I'm basically the only one who's fine. Moreover, I have no way to get there since the boat is over at your end."

Kairi sighed, he was right. Both major boats belonging to the Ranhger Union were in Oblivia. And besides that, it took about three days to get to and from here to Almia- Kairi had four hours at most, not near six whole days.

"Hm… looks like you're on your own." said Darkrai, "If only you had the Holy Grail…"

There was a silence as Kairi took this in _"…come again?"_

"Yeah you know, the Holy Grail! It works like Mercifond's chosen one powers, so if you had one of those you could probably get rid of the barrier."

Trueman became wide eyed, and the both of them flashed back to Anarchaoss' warning: to find the Holy Grail. Moreover, they questioned the townspeople of Cocona and they had it in their cave.

_"I know where I can get one."_ Kairi said solemnly _"Thank you Darkrai, you all rest, I'll hold the fort in Oblivia."_

"Will do. Good luck!" he smiled, "And remember, should you find yourself in doubt… use brain powers!"

Kairi chuckled, clicking the monitor off. She turned to the rest of her party and announced the reveal of the Grail- a golden cup that could shut off their indestructible shield. The second meeting had begun.

"AH YES, THE HOLY GRAIL! IF WE HAD THAT IT COULD WORK." Elecdos agreed.

"But my wife is still there…" Rand pointed out, "If we get anywhere near that thing and they find out…" he trailed off, not wanting to imagine what would happen.

"Then getting Leanne out of there is our top priority…" said Kairi, thinking "I'm sure that when the shield is gone, they'll know we're here. If I had a staraptor, I could probably fly through and get her out fast, but first we need to figure out where she is…"

"And we can't get in unless we break the barrier." Rand sighed. However, Kairi's face suddenly lit up.

"No, we can!" Kairi explained, "Or rather… three of us can." she eyed the three legendary bird spirits. Because they were dead, and nothing but souls, they could simply phase through the barrier.

"She's right, we can do that." Frigiduno realized. The three legendary birds could phase through the barrier, and quickly scout for any potential dangers and Rand's wife. Once they knew the layout of the place, Kairi could break down the shield with the Holy Grail, get Leanne out, and then take care of business.

"Sounds like a plan." Rand murmured, "We have four hours left- Kairi, you go get the grail, you three go to the Sky Fortress and find my wife, Nema and Trueman, you can-"

**_BOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSHHHHHHH!_**

From outside there was a deafening noise, as if something huge had fallen out of the sky. Kairi and the other ran out as fast as they could- next to the house was a giant rocket ship, on fire and crumbling from impact.

"Rocket ship…" Kairi noted.

"It can't be…" Trueman realized. Stepping out from the cockpit were no other than the evil Dr. Alakazam, and his daughter Aureen. Discarding their space gear, they gave each other high fives and congratulated themselves on an excellent landing.

"What are you two doing here!?" gaped Trueman. The psychic type, with his daughter on his shoulder, walked over to them and explained the situation.

"They blew up Dolce Island…" said Dr. Alakazam with a sneer "Do you know what that means…!?"

"That a lot of wild Pokemon just died?"

"THAT MY BEACH HOUSE IS DESTROYED!" wailed the alakazam with a monocle "I must have my revenge! But unfortunately I fired all the jello cups I had at that flying sphere, and none of them penetrated the shield!

…that's when I remembered! You said you had a mission to do, to save Oblivia! So I figured, why not aid her for a little bit?"

"Well, okay…" Kairi was surprised, "So um, what can you do?"

"Well first off," grinned the good doctor, "we brought reinforcements…"

Two more stepped out of the space shuttle, this time from the storage unit. One was a dark skinned and very large human. She instantly recognized Barlow. But there was one more, a blue skinned gardevoir with a flower in her head.

Kairi almost burst into tears "Ruby!"

"Kairi!" wailed the psychic, overjoyed and laughing as they held each other. Dr. Alakazam smirked "Thought you might appreciate that…"

Ruby had reunited with her partner, and together the two were invincible. Having everything she needed to succeed, she eyed the floating fortress and vowed for its demise.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, on the inside of the Sky Fortress, two humans with grey colored golden armor, the Steelheads, were watching out for any suspicious Rangers that their bosses warned them might be coming. Nothing yet though, so one decided to make small talk.<p>

"So how come we have to wait five hours to get all that dough?" one asked, "Wouldn't it be possible to get it in two?"

"Yeah, but you forget- our bosses are old people.

Old people need their afternoon naps. They're napping right now."

"Oh." the first Steelhead realized "Lame."


	19. Neo Genesis Takes Over

Chapter fifty five: Kairi Py-

**_BOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSHHHHH!_**

A violent explosion occurred, causing a gaping hole in the fourth wall to appear in Cataclyptic's room. At once, the members of Neo Genesis stepped through the hole until each and every one of them was present. As Cataclyptic looked on in terror, Salamantra stepped forth.

"Oh no you freaking don't Cataclyptic-chan! We've been in the shadows for far too long- and now that we're finally revealed you're just going to let us-kun sit there and wait more!?"

Cataclyptic nervously gulped "W-Well obviously I like you guys a lot, and I want to make some chapters starring you, but first I have to finish Kairi's arc, and then I have to show Arceus and her relationship with Sapien City, and then-"

"NO." said Brillareby, the pink butterfly somehow looking angry while being… well… a pink butterfly, "We of Neo-Genesis command you to write this chapter about us!"

"But how?" asked Cataclyptic, "My notes have nothing on you guys- I don't know where to begin with an episode plot!"

"Wait, wait, wait." said Inori, his one good eye blinking "We have a plot?"

"Apparently…" the dark haired author shifted his glasses "Something about… something… I don't know maybe my audience is confused…Either way I'd have no idea how to write you in all of a sudden."

"Think of something. And it better be good." warned the dark furred Yami.

"I'm sure you can do it if you try!" said the light furred Yumi.

"…Do I have to?" sighed Cataclyptic.

"Yes. Yes you-chan do." said Salamantra seriously, "If you don't write this chapter about us… then we will FEED YOU GLOP-KUN."

Even the author had no idea what glop (kun?) was, but he knew that he didn't want to be fed it. Reluctantly, he agreed to showcase the members of Neo-Genesis in this chapter.

* * *

><p>Chapter fifty five- Neo Genesis Takes Over<p>

* * *

><p>All of the members of Neo Genesis had gathered in the central plaza just outside their mansion. There was Salamantra, the blue and red colored upright lizard, a seals master in his own right. Next to him was Brillareby, a pink psychic butterfly who was a lot more powerful than she looked.<p>

Yumi and Yami, the bird/rabbit twins attached to each other by a chain, hung out to the side talking amongst each other. Inori, the mysterious grey ghost was by himself, experimenting with some dimensional coding. Giga was sitting down, silently observing Inori from a distance.

The blue colored Schocat was enjoying tormenting Akumori, a bat creature many times his size and power level. Akumori merely ignored it, being the epitome of the strong and silent type.

And finally there was Mewthree, the noob and novice of the group, nervously looking this way and that, unsure of what to do around these strangers who probably didn't like her. Her thought were confirmed when Yami abruptly went up to her and declared her hatred, Yumi apologizing all the way.

The bar of soap was nowhere to be seen- it was finding a new tactic for ambushing its prey- namely Mewthree. Absolix was in his room, apparently trying to perform an 'ultimate technique' or something.

"Finally, a chapter about us for once." remarked the pink butterfly to Salamantra.

"I know. Too bad Absolix-sama said he won't be here for most of it…" said Inoti sadly. Absolix said he'd be too busy- after he worked on his ultimate move, he would try to fix their television.

Something about 'they don't offer cable to alternate dimensions' or something.

"By the way, what do we do about the n00b?" said Brillareby in text speak, nudging in Mewthree's direction.

"Well, she might be weaker than crap, but she-chan is a nice Pokemon anyway." said Salamantra, "We'll just keep a close eye on her."

"So um…" Inori came up to the pair "What exactly do we do? I means, now that we have all this screen time… what do we do with it?"

There was a unanimous pause among everyone. No one knew the answer to the question. Except Giga, he suggested in Gigaspeak that they try to move continents around. Since the continents were originally one, he reasoned, they should put them back together for a while like the massive jigsaw puzzle they were.

"Nah, I did that last week." grumbled Akumori. Everyone stared at him "…what?"

Luckily for them, Cataclyptic warped in with a mission.

"Okay well, it's not much of a plot, but can you guys do me a big favor?" asked the bespeckled author.

"Depends, what is it?" asked Inori suspiciously.

"The Narrator is missing." said Cataclyptic in a worried voice, "I can't find him anywhere."

Salamantra thought back- recently the Narrator hadn't said anything, not during transition scenes, not random quips, or even to alter speech. Since the Narrator seemed to have disappeared, it made sense why.

"Hm…I suppose we can… but when we get back, you'd better have a decent chapter for us." Salamantra reluctantly agreed. The author thanked them, then went back to fix all the holes in the fourth wall that he broke. The red and blue lizard turned to his group "Well, we have our temporary mission- to find the missing Narrator!"

"Pass." said Akumori in a low voice, "I'm going to Earth. Won't be back for a while."

No one argued. Hardly anyone argued with him. Inori kindly warped the brown bat to Earth, and Salamantra resumed speaking.

"I think this is a mission that will require all of us, even Mewthree." said the wise lizard "And of course… Giga can come too."

"BRRDRDRDRDR." said the white giant in a mechanical sounding voice. Schrocat ran up to Salamantra,

"CAN I COME TOO!?" asked Schrocat, so eager he defied the laws of grammar with multiple endpoints. There was a great discussion among the members of Neo-Genesis, who eventually decided that no, Schrocat had to stay.

"Because you might need your medicine, and only Absolix can give that to you." Inori reasoned. Mewthree flashed back- she remembered the last time Schrocat needed his 'medicine'; a huge blast of light from Absolix that apparently made him feel better.

The eight year old of course, whined to let him come. Though he shrieked an unholy banshee like wail of torment, the more mature members would not let him come. However, Mewthree volunteered to stay behind and keep watch over him. She said that this way, he would stay put.

"Are you sure Mewthree-chan?" asked Salamantra. Mewthree nodded her head, and Schrocat reluctantly agreed to be good since he had a playmate. With that, the matter was settled- Mewthree would stay behind, and the rest would try and find the Narrator.

Packing up a few supplies, and Salamantra creating some safety seals for them, the team headed out. Composed of Salamantra, the seals master, Inori the infiltrator, Yumi and Yami the Yin and Yang, Giga the Strongest Pokemon and Brillareby the radiant; the five set off to find the missing Narrator.

Inori created a purple portal to Earth, and they vanished within it.

Merwthree was alone with Schrocat. And the bar of soap. But mostly Schrocat. This of course was the pink psycat's plan all along: Because she had questions and she wasn't going to find them with this excuse plot the rest were chasing after.

Besides, it was clear she wasn't 'one of them' anyway. Which, she convinced herself, was fine- she was only here for training to defeat Mewtwo.

But as for why she stayed behind, she had questions about Schrocat. Or rather, the way that most of Neo-Genesis seemed to centralize around him. You see, frequently the members of Cascade would go inside Absolix's chambers, holding meetings about something. Mewthree never knew what it was they talked about, mostly because-

_Absolix: "Well, you never swore your allegiance to me. MEMBERS ONLY DEAR."_

-but she did know it was about Schrocat. Why? Because Schrocat was the only other Pokemon not invited. They convinced him it was because he was too young and they were talking about boring adult stuff, but Mewthree was unconvinced.

One day, she tried listening in out of curiosity. She heard Absolix mention something about how they had to find 'something to cure Schrocat' and 'we might be running out of time'. Unfortunately that was all she heard before the ever watchful fallen angel discovered her and promptly blasted her with a laser beam.

The laser beam may have hurt, but she gained valuable information: there was some of medical disorder that the hyperactive eight year old had. It was apparently a big one, otherwise they wouldn't hold these meetings so much.

"Mewthree watcha' doing?" asked Schrocat, jumping up and down trying to get eye level with the comparatively taller psycat.

"I was just thinking… Schrocat, why do you need your medicine?" she asked subtly.

"'Cause!" he answered.

"…yes, but, what do you need it for?" she pried further.

"'Cause I do." he shrugged.

Well that plan hardly worked. Then again he was only eight, she supposed he couldn't care for these things so long as his 'parent' took care of him "Well, do you at least know what Absolix's doing in there?"

She motioned to the mansion. Ever since yesterday, where he had gotten back from challenging Darkrai, he had locked himself in his room. He had not come out for anything, not even food nor water for an entire day.

"Absolix says he's working on the greatest move ever!" answered the blue cat. Mewthree raised an eyebrow at this, wasn't her boss already the strongest one in the world? Why would he of all Pokemon need a new move?

Speaking of which, from in front of the pair appeared a note made out of pure light. With its glittering words, it told Mewthree to come into Absolix's quarters alone. The pink psycat told the blue paradox that she would be back soon, and lazily floated over to hear whatever ridiculous request Absolix wanted of her.

The second she disappeared, Schrocat grinned widely. Looking left and right, he faded out of existence.

* * *

><p>The last of Neo Genesis stepped out of the portal, in a brightly lit area that looked like farmland. All five wore white moustaches for disguise.<p>

"Now, where should we-samas begin?" asked Salamantra out loud. Did they have any leads?

"Well, first of all I think we should look when exactly the Narrator disappeared." suggested Brillareby. Everyone else thought this was a good idea, so Inori warped them to a bustling city- they needed a computer.

They soon found one in the library "Alright, everybody start reading lPKMN and find out when the Narrator vanished!"

"Where's chapter forty one?" questioned Inori, looking at the computer. No one knew.

No one wanted to know.

"Okay," said Yumi after a few minutes of searching "It looks like the Narrator disappeared sometime in between chapters 49 and 50."

"During the last special…" Yami narrowed her eyes, "Everyone was so distracted by all the drama, no wonder no one noticed!"

"Where was he seen last?" asked Brillareby, hopping over to the twin's computer. The rabbits reported he was last seen at the Hippowdon Temple, main area. But since he had vanished in between chapters, that was hardly a relevant fact- he could have been anywhere during that interval.

"BRRRDDDRDRR…" said Giga the regigigas in a sad voice.

"Let's consider why the Narrator-san disappeared." Salamantra tapped a claw on a desk, thinking, "Could the Narrator-san have simply run off because he didn't like his job?

"Nah, he seemed pretty enthusiastic about it." Brillareby noted.

"Okay then, so maybe he-san had a serious injury and is trapped somewhere?"

"The Narrator is a voice, no body. Plus, even if he was trapped, he would just transition his way out."

"Good point…" Salamantra nodded, "Then that means there is only one other way: the Narrator must have been kidnapped."

"How?" Inori questioned, "He's a voice, how do you catch a voice?"

"No no, there are seals for that." said the seals master Salamantra, "And there are ways to stop scene transitions via seals. It's the only way that makes sense."

"So he's kidnapped? Oh no!" cried the brown furred Yumi.

"Big freaking whoop. So who's the dead bastard?" asked Yami, her cannon arm glowing in anticipation.

"I don't know." said the great fire lizard, "Who would want to kidnap the Narrator? Who could possibly have a grudge against him?"

"You know who would know?" Brillareby started, "The secret agents. They have files on everything- they probably have a list of the Narrator's enemies."

"Excellent suggestion. Now how to we get in and get out without anyone noticing?" Inori questioned. These were of course, the secret agents. Their base would be secure, there would be cameras everywhere and not to mention, they would have to deal with agent Neon in order to get the files.

Even though Neo-Genesis had been out of commission for over 200 years, they had quickly been updated on modern times. They knew how secretive and thorough agent Neon could be… getting past him would be no easy feat.

Especially when he could see right through jokes. No amount of absurd disguises would fool him, nor any running gags.

Yeah, he was THAT good.

"The files are the only lead we have…" Salamantra raised a claw, "I say we think of a plan fast, account for all the details about-"

"Um, HELLO!?" Yami suddenly broke through everyone's thinking, "The hell are you all doing? We're Neo-Genesis! NEO, FREAKING, GENESIS! We are the single most feared and powerful organization on earth, PERIOD. And you want to think of a plan to sneak in!?"

The dark haired rabbit made a good point.

"BRDRDRDR, BRDRDRDR."

"Giga, you're a forty foot tall giant who causes mini earthquakes every time you step. How on earth would you 'quietly sneak in'?" Inori noted. Giga replied in his obscure language that he would be like a ninja, and use chakra to camoflauge himself.

"Wrong series." Brillareby rolled her eyes, "Anyway, Yami's right. Let's just barge in. What could they do to stop us?"

So they went to the front of the secret agent's secret base of secrecy (located below the pool in the resort area) and knocked on the door, demanding to know what they knew about the Narrator. And, lo and behold, no one argued.

"S-So you want to know a-about the Narrator?" asked a clearly nervous tyranitar, "W-well I c-can direct you to the files…"

"We don't have time for files. Take us to agent Neon." Brillareby demanded. The tyranitar was torn. On one hand the number one rule of 'agent Neon's identity must remain a secret' would be broken; on the other hand, this was Neo-Genesis.

But luckily for him, his tail was saved thanks to intervention from Neon himself, in the form of a printed piece of paper. Salamantra eyed it- it was a list of all the Narrator's enemies. But only one name was written on it.

"I don't believe it…" Yumi gasped.

"How could we not have seen that coming? Of course HE'D be the one to kidnap the Narrator!" her twin growled.

"BRDRDRDRDRDR!"

"He's right, we shouldn't waste any more time. We have to find him before things get out of hand!"

* * *

><p>Hesitantly, Mewthree stepped into Absolix's room. She was met by seven Absolix's, all hanging from bowl chairs.<p>

"…how did you take me inside your mind so fast?" wondered the suspicious pink psycat.

"There are advantages to being me." said Absolix, or rather Sigma the golden colored one, "Please, take a seat."

A chair instantly materialized. The pink psychic type took a seat, in the center where she was visible by all six of Absolix's alternate personalities, in addition to the main one.

…wait… six…?

"I see you've taken a note to our numbers." said Xi, the logical one, "No you are not miscounting. Episilon is gone."

Mewthree opened her mouth, but no words came out. She knew what this meant.

"Or rather, he's merged with me." said Sigma, the main personality, "It seems as though Xi was right, with enough stimulation the rest of you can merge into me and we can become whole once again.

During that time with Darkrai… I guess he reminded me of how fun sparring used to be for me. So Epsilon and I fused."

"And the ripple effect is clearly evident," noted Xi "since Theta also disappeared for a while. He almost was merged…"

"Yeah dude, it was freaky like." said the orange colored absolix.

"Well, that's good news anyhow." noted Sigma, "Now on to a more pressing topic: you all lied to me. We agreed from the very beginning to erase the memories of anyone who found out about 'us'."

There was silence among the other six, Sigma staring into Mewthree, a slight frown on his face. The psycat wondered what would happen next: would the deal be broken?

"W-W-We thought sh-she might h-help us in the m-m-merging…!" said Delta, the embodiment of fear, in a cringing voice.

"Y, yeah." said Beta, the blue one and embodiment of nervousy.

"Why would Mewthree be able to help us?" Sigma questioned, a giving Delta a gaze that sent shivers down his spine. Beta drummed his fingers like usual. It was the grey one that answered.

"You know why." said Gamma in a low voice. Sigma turned his gaze towards the personality of aggression. Gamma hardly faltered.

For a while, the two stared at each other in silence. The atmosphere around them was unnerving. The girl had honestly never seen Absolix so intense. Not angry, just intense and unwilling to budge, for both of them. Eventually, Sigma broke by utter one word

"Fine." he said to Gamma, allowing their little deal with Mewthree to continue, "But only because I've seen what she can do."

An image of Omega, in Gardevoir's body, flashed before her eyes "That's a good point: how exactly did I convince that rampaging personality to stop?" she questioned.

Shuffling among the group. Alpha of course answered "Because it's love Mewthree! Pure unadulterated love!"

A universal pause. The pink psycat turned red at the thought and pronounced her disgust at Alpha. The rest assured her that Alpha was… just being Alpha and nothing more. Mewthree was unconvinced.

"I know there's something going on between me and this 'Alicia' Pokemon." she stated outright "So tell me, who exactly IS Alicia?"

There was a unanimous pause among the group. They wondered if they should tell her the truth, or let her remain ignorant of it. Which one was better?

"That is on a need to know basis. You don't need to know." Sigma finally decided, "We can allow you to help us, but beyond that the less you know the better. Besides, I can't just let you into my personal life, especially when I'm about to-" he cut himself off and very quickly added "Never mind."

"Fine. I only came for the training anyway, not this crazy nonsense…" the girl justified herself, "But really, you ought to tell me a little bit about this 'horrible' past of yours. For your own good anyway" she added "since you clearly have a LOT of mental problems and it might unload your consciousness."

At this, Sigma laughed a hearty laugh, surprising the rest of them until they remembered that Episilon, the personification of joy, was now fused with him. He could now find more amusement out of life.

"Are you a psychologist now? Is that it?" chuckled the white being, "Do you really want to know about my past? It's quite depressing and you'd be better off ignorant of it." Sigma warned her.

Mewthree was unfazed "Well alright then. Ever wondered why there's so few light type Pokemon in the world?" said Sigma before the others could interject. He gave them a signal that he was going to share some of his past with her.

Mewthree thought back to her studies "According to history books, they all mysteriously disappeared. Well, most of them anyway."

"Indeed. Do you remember when it happened?"

"It was about…" Mewthree narrowed her eyes "…two hundred years ago, some decades before the great war… Don't tell me you were involved?"

"Why yes, I was." the false Absolix smiled, "Or rather, our original personality was. At the ripe age of ten years old, I killed each and every one of them."

Mewthree widened her eyes. Fear overtook her, and she stepped back from the ever Cheshire smiling fallen angel "I fought for what seemed like an eternity, probably a week, until all of them had died by my hand."

"Wh…wh…" the psycat tried to form words. The other personalities looked down, clearly displeased by this truth.

"All of them were trying to kill me. My existence was such a threat to them, that every single light type they could muster formed a large army and assaulted me."

Absolix looked into the distance "Even my parents tried to kill me. That moment in particular, when I had a broadsword jammed into my father's stomach drove me most over the edge. In my ungodly fury, I slaughtered my mother, and even my older brother without so much as blinking." he turned to her.

"And then the rest." he said simply.

Mewthree was agape with a strange combination of awe, disgust, revolution and fear. Sigma saw this and chuckled "Well if you can't even handle that, I shouldn't tell you the rest of it." he said rather lightheartedly "But honestly, you should have expected something that gruesome.

I'm the villain after all."

The rest of them looked at Mewthree with serious looks. Finally, Delta reiterated that they really were.

"Indeed. I, broken as I am, am truly the worst thing to ever happen in the history of the world. The light types knew it- hence why they tried to kill me." finished Sigma.

The pink psycat had finally closed her mouth. While visible beads of sweat were visible on her fur, she tried to remain calm.

"I don't believe it." she finally said "I can't believe you aren't as bad as you say you are."

"Why?" smiled the golden colored Sigma, "What could possibly convince you after all I've done, that I'm not evil?"

"Because of Schrocat." Mewthree said simply. The golden Absolix frowned as the girl continued "True, I don't know much about you, but I know a lot about that annoying eight year old." she said, reflecting on the times they had spent together, "And I know he trusts you completely. And when I look into your eyes, I don't even see any evil in it. Just…"

Mewthree could not put it into words.

Sigma continued to stare at her, not smiling. Finally, he spoke "While your words flatter me, I very much encourage you not to think of me as a role model. Any one of me, that is."

Mewthree was silent. She stared back into Sigma's- Absolix's golden colored eyes. Even now, she could not see any true malice within them. She just saw…

_"The Paradox will turn Voidless soon- for this is a sign. A sign of what? The one who loves him most shall become dreaded, and seek the help of Truth to stop the Void."_

Mewthree suddenly rubbed her head; what was that?

"Well after getting sidetracked, let's move on to the main topic of discussion:" said Sigma, "My dear apprentice, when Omega in Gardevoir's body lunged at me to put himself inside my mind, there were only a few milliseconds for another creature such as yourself to enter in with him.

So I ask you: how did you know the exact moment to go in with him?"

Mewthree became nervous. At length, she explained that she received a vision while searching for Xeno, a wordless call that foretold Omega's plan and somehow beckoned her to it. When she saw the same thing was about to happen, she leapt to 'save' Absolix before she even knew it.

"You tried to save me?" chuckled Sigma, "My, wouldn't that be something… though I suppose you were useful in the final confrontation with Omega."

She flicked her tail angrily- of course her boss wouldn't simply allow her to have any compliments, or even a 'thank you'. "That being said this vision of yours disturbs me." said Sigma.

"It also concerns me." spoke Xi, the logical one What you have just described it incredibly similar to what… Seers experience during their life.""

Mewthree rolled her eyes "A Seer? Really? That's the best you've got?"

"You have a better explanation!?" growled the grey colored absolix.

"Just my imagination running wild." Mewthree said, "Especially with… with…"

The mood in the room changed abruptly. The painful memory of Xeno killing her flooded her mind once again. A gruesome image of his fist inside her ribcage, that maniacal look on his face, and the weakness she felt at the time made her gag and start to cry and vomit at the same time. The absolix's went into action sending her back to the real world while Sigma, taking over once again, quickly applied some light typed healing moves on her.

Unfortunately the problem was psychological and not physical: the healing moves had no effect. Still, Absolix kept the light on her anyway, trying to make her feel better with a placebo her while she emptied her stomach.

"X-Xeno…" she gagged again. Absolix did the only thing he could, he held her tightly and began rubbing her back in a soothing manner. Mewthree finally stopped when she had nothing else to vomit, but it was replaced with uncontrollable crying.

Her love, the love of her life, the one perfect Pokemon on the planet- he had attempted to kill her. In fact he did, but Absolix was stronger still. The one she was destined to becomes mates with, Xeno, had without remorse put a hole in her rib cage, nearly striking her own heart.

And the incredibly scary part of it was this: she still loved him. She still loved him, but when she tried to think of him she started convulsing- at some level her physical being was rejecting him, yet she still yearned for him to be at her side and not her boss.

It was literally one of the scariest things Absolix could think of. Revulsion and love… but mixed into something even uglier than both. This coupled with the fact that Mewthree, his apprentice, had no say in the matter…

Giovanni really was a mastermind. When the fallen angel first heard his name, he dismissed it as unimportant. But now, now that Mewthree was crying uncontrollably in his arms, now that he realized the psychological torment she was suffering… he could see why every country on the planet proclaimed him 'The most evil man in history'.

"Shh… he isn't here." Absolix gently told her "He isn't here…"

A rare moment of comfort was happening between the master and his apprentice. Even though Mewthree knew there was nothing between them, save a temporary professional relationship, his touch on her fine fur still felt good. On the other end, it was strange for Absolix to be holding the girl who resembled Alicia. He knew she needed some way to alleviate her mental torment, but was still conflicted about getting too close to her. He had already crossed several lines he was not supposed to.

Then again, being stabbed in the chest by your own boyfriend generally warranted some intimacy. So he allowed her to lay on him, for now. After a length, Mewthree calmed down from her trauma. She pushes herself off of Absolix and announced her intent to play with Schrocat like she promised.

The yellow colored light type sat in his bed for a while, talking to the other personalities.

_"So, you really are going through with it…"_ said Beta, gulping.

_"I-I think… yeah… we should…"_ Delta spoke up. The rest had nothing to say.

_"Absolute monsters shall be killed."_ said Sigma to the rest, _"This is why Arceus must die. And this is why I also…"_ he trailed off as Mewthree came back into his room. She looked worried.

"Schrocat's gone!"

* * *

><p>"Meanwhile with Kurades!" announced the dark lord, still in blackened soul form. He and the rest of his Atrum Futurum were in an incredibly vague and darkened area. For mysteriousness. To the audience he said "Yes, that's right- I'm the one who took the Narrator! I have imprisoned him within a seal that he cannot break free from!"<p>

**MRRMMRMFF!** the Narrator shouted, but was muffled by the power of a red and green glowing seal on a wall.

"…why the hell did we need to kidnap the Narrator?" Thief Weavile asked the obvious question.

"Ransom!" grinned the bodiless form of Kurades, "Umbreon, pull out the chart!"

His most loyal servant used his paper powers to summon a written chart and pasted it on the wall. Everyone looked at it.

_Step 1: Kidnap the Narrator  
>Step 2: Lock him in a seal<br>Step 3: Piss off Canada  
>Step 4: ?<br>Step 5: I get my body back!_

"It is a flawless plan!" grinned Kurades, multiple eyes forming on his soul.

"What's phase four?" the former agent Slicer asked.

"I haven't thought of it yet! Give me some time!" announced their dark lord, "But anyway, this plan has an added bonus of trapping my mortal nemesis in permanent isolation!"

"…the Narrator…?" asked Banette.

"Yes! And nothing nor anyone can-"

"Stop right there!" Umbreon suddenly growled at his master "Forgive for interrupting… but every time you say 'this or that won't happen' it usually does! So please master, don't jinx us!"

Jynx: "You called?"

Thief Weavile killed the running gag on the spot, clearly displeased with their situation. Kurades spoke up to Umbreon "Oh please, I'm hardly bad luck! Just to prove it to you, watch this: And there is nothing nor anyone who can stop us!"

One of their walls was beaten down and the members of Neo-Genesis swarmed the area.

Kurades: "…Huh…"

They were surrounded. Salamantra, Brillareby, Yumi and Yami, Inori and even Giga were present. With harsh voices they demanded that Kurades release the Narrator and let him do his narration again.

"Over my dead body!" threatened Kurades.

"You ARE dead. You're nothing but a soul without a vassal!" Brillareby pointed out.

"…over THEIR dead bodies!" Kurades motioned to his men, clearly outmatched and scared stiff. Umbreon muttered that maybe they should try settling this matter through a means other than fighting.

"Yes, I would very much like to live thank you." said Slicer, getting a yarg here and there from Captain Sharkbeard.

"Oh fine." Kurades' soul floated up to Neo-Genesis "Okay, we will have a contest to see who gets the Narrator. If you win you get to take him back, if I win then he can't narrate for the rest of eternity!"

Yami was baffled "Why the hell would we agree to that!? We're Neo Genesis, and we can just kick your asses while Salamantra undoes the seal, so why, why the HELL would anyone agree to-"

"BRDRDRDRRDRDR!" shouted Giga.

"GIGA!" everyone else scolded. The white and gold giant shrugged- he wanted to play a game badly.

"Very well then, the contest is…" Kurades thought for a second and grinned "A Pokemon battle."

"But you just said-"

"On Red and Blue versions." he grinned. Everyone widened their eyes. Was he serious!? Did Kurades not know that Red and Blue were released in a time when no one knew how to make videogames? Did Kurades never see the Arceusawful spiriting they used for every single Pokemon?

"What's wrong? Scared?" taunted the grinning black soul, already whipping out a Gameboy with a copy of Red in it. The members of Neo-Genesis turned to each other- the man was serious. But which one of them could battle Kurades? Who among them knew to be 1337 in the oldest Pokemon games?"

"BDRDRDRDR!" Giga raised his hand.

"Wait, you have!?" Yumiu and Yami were surprised.

"BRDRDR. BRDRDRD."

"And their all level 100!? That settled it- take him Giga!" Inori said. Now that they thought about it, it was only logical that Giga would be a master of Red and Blue battling. After all, he was over 10,000 years old…

He was there when they came out.

"BRDRDRDR!" Giga said fiercely, connecting the link cables and challenging the dark lord with his Blue copy. Kurades grinned and accepted the battle- a large TV screen came up and the battle was there for all to see.

_Player KURADES and GIGA appeared!_

_Player GIGA sent out FENNEKIN!"_

"Hey wait, isn't that a gen 6 Pokemon!?" gasped Brillareby.

_Player KURADES sent out MISSINGO.!"_

"…I'm not even going to bother asking…" Inori muttered. He sat down next to Salamantra and watched the battle unfold. Slicer even had some popcorn.

"This is going to be intense, yarg!" said Captain Sharkbeard in excitement.

_FENNEKIN used HYPER BEAM!_  
><span><em>It's super effective!<em>  
><span><em>Foe MISSINGNO. fainted!<em>

_KURADES sent out ABSOLIX!_

"WHAT!?" gaped the members of Neo Genesis.

_ABSOLIX used PHOTON STREAM!_  
><span><em>A critical hit!<em>  
><span><em>Foe FENNEKIN fainted!<em>

_GIGA sent out SHADOW LUGIA!_

At this point no one questioned the absurdity of this battle.

_ABSOLIX used LIGHT SABRE!_  
><span><em>A critical hit!<em>

_SHADOW LUGIA used SHADOW RUSH!_  
><span><em>It's super effective!<em>

_ABSOLIX used SUPERNOVA!_  
><span><em>Foe SHADOW LUGIA fainted!<em>

_GIGA sent out BAD EGG!_

_ABSOLIX used SUPERNOVA!_  
><span><em>A critical hit!<em>  
><span><em>It's super effective!<em>  
><span><em>Foe BAD EGG fainted!<em>

_Foe BAD EGG caused KURADES' game to be uber GLITCHED!_

Kurades frowned "Wait, what!?"

_KURADES now has GLITCHED GAME!_

_GIGA wins the BATTLE!"_

Giga looked over his handiwork, smirking even though he had no eyes or mouth. Neo Genesis cheered, while Atrum Futurum cried hax. Reluctantly, Kurades admitted his defeat. With much complaining and cursing, he released the Narrator from his confines.

**I'M BACK! OH ARCEUS IS IT GOOD TO SPEAK AGAIN!**

"Transition while you can, Narrator." Kurades warned "For soon I shall have my real body back, and then your job will be mine! Umbreon!" the black and gold Pokemon hastily teleported them away using paper seals. Neo Genesis had finally won the battle. With Atrum Futurum once again having their plans disrupted, nothing could stop them from enjoying victory.

Until Kurades reappeared and said "Yes, nothing can stop you from relishing in victory!"

A white colored and berserk looking Schrocat crashed into the area. His eyes were blank, as if devoid of emotion and reason. He blindly lashed at anything in his path.

"Hah! I really AM bad luck!" Kurades disappeared as the rest of Neo Genesis prepared to do battle.

"I can take him alone." Salamantra sighed. From out of nowhere ten Schrocats appeared, and each used their Universal Ascension attacks to summon ten spheres of dark and light energy. With then ten in such proximity, any special attacks attempted on the raging paradox would be useless.

The fire lizard was hardly fazed.

"I might need to be full power for best results…" muttered the fire lizard "Release command: The Grand Symphony!"

Air shot in all directions away from him as Salamantra's power level abruptly rose from almost nothing to a full blown 425,000.

The red fire lizard was possibly a greater sealsmaster than even Absolix. Absolix had exactly 99 seals on his body, each one limiting 1 percent of his power. Salamantra however, had a total of at least 500. And unlike Absolix, Salamantra only needed one to keep his crushing power level under control.

That left 499 seals that he could use at any point in time, each and every one different from the last. And Salamantra was one who used the power of a seal to utmost proficiency.

The basic idea behind the seal is to either put one object inside of another, or to transmit energy, information, and sometimes even matter across a distance. This occurred using a series of interconnected leylines created by a yet to be determined aura force that both humans and Pokemon possess. By making them in such a manner, similar to the electronic circuit board, things could be trapped or sent away at will.

A seal in his head transmitted thoughts to a different seal invisible on his body. This next one transmuted thoughts into an act that unlocked a specific set of seals to be released from his body. From there he used faint and incredibly stretched seals to transmit the main ones into the air around him at different locations.

Still bonded to them by an invisible web of energy, he gave a simple command for them to absorb all the energy they could take. And by design, they could take a lot. Schrocat's Universal Ascension orbs disappeared in an instant.

Before Shrocat could replicate any more, Salamantra quickly dispatched more energy sealing designs on all ten of the cats, by principle making them powerless. Then he used some creativity seals to quickly transmute the energy sealing seals into mass trapping ones, using the energy he stole in the process to achieve this effect. The ten Schrocat's were subdued and fell to the ground, unable to lift a finger or even generate one iota of EP.

This occurred in approximately two seconds.

"Hmph, there Schrocat, do you feel better now?"

Salamantra, as powerful as he was, had no idea how to turn Schrocat back into one existence instead of ten. However, he did know that something was incredibly wrong, because when he looked at what was supposed to be a hyperactive kid, all he got was complete and utter emptiness.

Then, by some strange force, one of them disappeared. This surprised Salamantra, who knew that Schrocat was powerless and thus was incapable of dismissing himself. But then more disappeared, three more, then one after that. His number was cut in half.

"Hey… you sealed his energy right? What was that?" Inori asked the great fire lizard.

"I…I'm not sure…" his detection seals hardly felt a disturbance in energy, so how did he do it? And why just dismiss himself instead of replicating?

At that moment, Absolix arrived on the scene. He was alone, and his expression was worried. He took a quick glance at the environment around him and everything he needed to know was there.

"Dismiss your seals, Salamnatra. I'll take it from here."

He obeyed, the seals were dismissed and in an instant Absolix's hand was on the younger Pokemon's chest, a beam of pure light was fired into all five of the Schrocat's bodies' by five Absolix's. The five beams ceased as Schrocat fell backwards, everyone watching to see what would happen next.

Schrocat's bodies lay on the floor. Each were not breathing. Each one lay still.

Four of the Schrocat's disappeared.

"There you guys are!" he bounced back up "I was looking for you everywhere and I went to Kanto and Indigo Plateau and then some fields and then Destiny City and then… wait… how did I get here?"

"You were a very bad boy, Schrocat!" scolded Yumi and Yami at the same time, a rare moment for the two. Absolix too, chided him on his impulsive behavior. Slowly and disdainfully, Schrocat realized he had done it again- he had entered the 'Voidless' forme again.

"I…" the child was at a loss of words. Absolix forcibly warped him back to cascade, displeased.

"I swear, that child…" he muttered "He'll worry me to death one of these days."

"…Absolix…" Salamantra spoke from behind. The fallen angel turned "There were ten Schrocats before you applied your medicine. They all disappeared despite the lad not having any energy."

Absolix widened his eyes. For the first time since his personalities split, he began to fear. For a split second, a terrified expression was upon his face. But it was replaced just as quickly with monotone.

"Keep a better eye on him. Ensure he never leaves my side. I of course will also keep watch over him." said the godlike being "There will be a meeting tomorrow at six. Dismissed, take us back Inori."

Voidless forme. It wasn't an actual forme, just something Absolix made up to persuade Schrocat that he was normal. Unfortunately this was all one of his rare lies. Schrocat was not normal, not in any instance of the word.

And worse things than the Voidless forme would follow. Schrocat's clones disappearing meant only one thing to Absolix: he was quickly running out of time. Worse, he didn't know how much time was left.

If only there were a Trueman in the present era. He would know how much time remains.

No one had seen him. No one had known he was even there. Zoroark managed to just stand against a wall, and nobody suspected a thing. To be expected of course, his illusionary powers were top notch.

That said, how did some no name pre-legendary manage to find him back at the Hippowdon Temple?

Oh well, probably just a fluke.

That aside, he had just realized something interesting. And that was that Absolix needed a Trueman to help his dear brother.

"Luckily I know of such a Trueman." smiled the dark type, having once paid a personal visit to the boy "But how to get Absolix to know about him, especially when he's so cramped in that annoying little pocket dimension of his?"

Zoroark thought for a while "Hm… I cannot yet see the future on this one…perhaps I'll stalk our dear little truth sayer for a while… fufu…"

He vanished.


	20. Kairi Python and the Holy Grail

Chapter fifty six: Kairi Python and the Holy Grail

* * *

><p>The phone line went dead, and Kairi was gone. Darkrai sighed to himself. He retracted his legs and went over to the infirmary. Along the way he saw Cresselia back inside her seal, almost brimming with health. Soon her injuries would be healed, and then the rest of them would be back to normal.<p>

He met Meloetta at the entrance, she having the idea that she needed to protect Malispite in case of an attack. She let him in though and he relayed the news.

"So she's dealing with an evil organization in Oblivia huh?" the tall and injured brown bat said.

"And they have a weapon that can destroy entire islands... was she sure she could handle it alone?" Mercifond asked thoughtfully.

Darkrai rolled his eyes "You kidding? This is Kairi we're talking about.

She's practically won already."

* * *

><p>Kairi and Ruby waited tensely at Rand's house. While Trueman and Nema tried to fortify some defenses, the birds and Rand went out to gather information. Since the birds were dead and had no physical body, they could easily penetrate the Sky Fortress' barrier and find out where Rand's wife Leanne was being held.<p>

Rand was over in Cocona, talking to people and trying to find books on the Sky Fortress, possibly to find a weakness in it. He had not contacted them in some time, so his search must have been thus far unsuccessful.

Kairi and Ruby were almost done packing- together they would retrieve the one item that would let them inside the great doomsday weapon- the Holy Grail inside of Rasp Cavern.

They had four hours before the Sky Fortress was active again.

"Still, it's good to have you back." Kairi said to Ruby for the umpteenth time that day. Ruby gave a wide grin, having confidence.

"Yeah, now that we're partners again, we'll charge into that stupid forretress, beat the snot out of the lame bad guys, clear Leanne out of there and then-"

"TAAAAARRRGEEEET CLEAR!"

Suddenly, Barlow, from out of nowhere, ran as hard and fast as he could at Ruby and tackled her through a wall.

"RUBY!" screamed the brunette.

"I'm okay that was awesome!" her voice said from somewhere. Barlow scolded them on use the 'T' and 'C' words, reminding them he had a condition.

"Oh shoot, we'd better tell the kids too!" Kairi ran over to Trueman and Nema, grabbing their shoulders "Listen, you can't say the words 'Target' or 'Clear' around Barlow, he has a condition that makes him-"

"TARGEEET CLEEEAAAAARRRRRR!" instantly Kairi was hit with the momentum of the burly man, thrown into the wall where Ruby was. When this happened, Barlow smacked himself "Dang it! I have to get this thing under control! I can't just ram the first guy who says Target Clear, that's no way to-"

And then Barlow punched himself in the chest as hard as he could, sending him flying to where Kairi and her partner were. Astoundingly, he found on that day that even he was not immune to the demonic phrase.

The three sat in the wall for some time, slowly getting the debris off of them to where they could move. When they had regained mobility, the brunette ranger announced she was off the Rasp Cavern- where she would find the Holy Grail. Before she left, Trueman wished her good luck. Confidentially, he told her that when she came back he would finally tell her his secret.

"You have a secret?" Kairi questioned. Trueman face-palmed himself as he realized he wiped Kairi's memory earlier.

"You remember about being suspicious about me." the boy said.

"Oh yeah, that!" Kairi smiled, "Well okay, when I get back then." She reunited with Ruby and the two set off, first to Cocona village. They walked along the sandy beach, and then through a forest clearing arriving at the small settlement. There, she confirmed that the Holy Grail was indeed inside the cave, where she saw the door earlier.

"But in order to get in you need the key!" one old man reminded her.

"That's no problem!" Ruby's words translated through the Styler "I'm a fire type so I can just burn-"

"YOU NEED THE KEY TO GET IN." said the villagers in ominous voices. Kairi sighed "Okay, well where's the key!?"

"Hm… who had the key last again?" all of the people were confused and did not know.

"We don't have time for your stupid video game logic!" Kairi blared, pointing at the hanging Sky Fortress up above. Stomping into the cave, she walked up to the wooden door and commanded Ruby to use Blast Burn or whatever to tear it down. The villagers protested and whined, but it was too late- Ruby had destroyed the door within seconds.

The villagers cried. Kairi ignored them and went inside.

At first it was just a long dim path. But in a few minutes of walking, she and her gardevoir came across a lighted, circular room made from cobblestone. In its center, with light shining down, was a giant stone plaque written in ancient words.

Kairi examined the plaque, not seeing any grail. She pulled out her Styler, and brought up Google translator _"For here which sleeps the Heaven Cup, only be used in dire pain. One only can taken it if red hearted; some arm strength press against bright stone."_

A bead of sweat dripped down Kairi's face "Thank you, Google Translator. Your reliability has told me exactly how to get the Holy Grail."

"I know right!" said Ruby happily, skipping over to the other side of the wall "All we have to do is press this stone and it should appear!"

Ruby pressed a seemingly random stone, which moved inwards. The planets aligned themselves and from the heavens a rainbow staircase appeared, with the Holy Grail sliding down it.

"Oh gee, another the planets aligned." Kairi said dryly "That's what, the third time this month? Moreover- how the heck did you know what to do based on that horrible translation, Ruby!? "

"Because it was translated so well!" the blue haired gardevoir pumped her fists. Well at any rate, they got the Grail so even if it didn't make sense it was still-

"HALT!"

From out of nowhere a small shockwave sent Kairi and Ruby back. It was created when a vaguely blue colored humanoid leapt down. He was a cross between a jackal and a dog, upright with spikes and huge ears.

"You may not have it!" Lucario roared.

"Lucario!?" Kairi was flabbergasted.

"Oh, you…" Lucario remembered when the girl once used her Styler to interfere with his plans on capturing Gliscor "It figures an evil-doer such as yourself would try and take this sacred grail…"

"Evil doer!? What are you even doing here!?" Kairi blared.

"This is my summer job."

"Your summer job is to guard an ancient grail?" Ruby asked.

"Yes."

"Cool!"

"Look, Lucario," Kairi tried to reason with him "we absolutely need the Holy Grail right now! Oblivia is in danger, the Sky Fortress has risen again!"

"That's exactly what a criminal would say to try and take the grail!" said the blue jackal angrily.

"Oh come on, why don't you believe me!?" Kairi grew angry. Lucario told her that he had been observing her from a distance and reading her aura. He could tell that her intentions weren't pure because only the chosen could wield the grail.

"Not to mention… you don't have the key!" he finished "Meaning of course you're trying to unjustly steal it!"

Kairi smacked herself.

Villagers: "We told you that you needed the key!"

Kairi: "SHUT UP!"

The brunette had no time for this- in only a couple hours Armageddon would begin again so they needed the grail right now. Stepping forth, Kairi did her last resort and challenged the blue jackal to battle. Lucario accepted- declaring that he would win, else he'd be fired and wouldn't get a paycheck.

The two slowly got into stances. Kairi brought out her Styler, and Ruby went up next to her, grinning for battle. Lucario's golden and blue aura became visible, he stood defiantly.

"By the way, Mercifond says hi." Kairi remembered.

"Oh! Tell her I said hi back!" smiled the blue jackal, always ready to hear news on his girlfriend.

The clash began.

* * *

><p><strong>I'M BACK YOU GUYS!<strong>

"No one cares." Darkrai mumbled.

**SCREW YOU!**

The prince of darkness made his way over to his sister. She was still in her seal, practically glowing due to all the power inside of her. This was of course her plan, with so much borrowed power from Victini and Team Nova, as well as himself, she could use the most effective Moonlight possible to heal the others.

However, using so much power required deep concentration and adjustment. If someone had more power than they were used to, they tended to not think clearly or waste their power. Case in point: Darkrai when he broke Asmodeus' seal.

He looked down at his right hand- still nothing visible. He had not seen the guy since that brief interval back in the Hippowdon Temple. Darkrai had a lot of questions for this 'ancestor' of his, unfortunately he had no idea to actually talk to Asmodeus. And when he was able to, there were usually more important things going on… like him dying.

"Darkrai!" he heard an unfamiliar voice. He turned to the side and saw Latios approaching him "Yo, how's it been?"

"Well I feel fine but the others…" Darkrai trailed off, realizing that Latios was here "What about you? Why are you here?"

"Eh, I was worried about Cresselia." said the dragon. At this point, Darkrai realized something was off- Latios was in general, scared of him and his nightmare powers. Why was he acting so chummy all of a sudden?

"Oh yeah…" he lowered his head when confronted with the question "Well yeah I admit… I was kind of scared of you at first because of, you know."

"Can't say I blame you." Darkrai dryly uttered.

"But you know… I heard you saved Cresselia when she was at her most vulnerable." Latios smiled "So, I guess my opinion of you has changed. If you're willing to take down a clone of Mewtwo to protect her, than you can't be that bad of a dude."

Darkrai grinned "Don't forget Absolix too." at this, Latios shuddered, telling him it wasn't a funny joke. The pitch black Pokémon was about to say that he could TOTALLY kick the ass of a class Five who was considered the strongest being alive, but kept his mouth shut. He's see.

They'd all see.

* * *

><p><em>DARKRAI'S IMAGINATION :<em>

_Absolix lay on the floor, beaten into pulp._

_Arceus: "Oh my Self! You beat up Absolix!"_

_Darkrai: "Naturally…"_

_Arceus: "Here, you can be God now! Go ahead and rule the Council!"_

_Malispite: "Oh sh*t how can I compete with that!?"_

_Lopunny: "I love you! Let's become mates and have sexy sex!"_

* * *

><p>"Yeah…" Darkrai's fantasy left him drooling while Latios stared in confusion.<p>

**SPOILER ALERT: IT WON'T HAPPEN**

"SCREW YOU NARRATOR!" yelled the prince of darkness to the heavens.

"So… Cresselia tells me you have a thing for Gardevoir." smiled Latios trying to make small talk. The prince of darkness launched a Dark Pulse at his sister without warning, knocking her a few feet until she sprung back into her seal.

"…She also tells me you don't like to admit it…" the blue dragon type said to himself quietly. Just then, Victini popped back in. He announced that he had found the three muskadeers, and they told him a couple of important things.

"But before that, it's time for your training!" the fire rabbit said to Darkrai. Rolling his eyes, the prince of darkness asked what his training was.

"Well, remember how those three are supposed to bodyguard Meloetta?" smiled Victini.

"Yeah…?"

"I told them you stuffed jello down her throat." smiled the fire rabbit "And then did XXX and XXX with her afterwards."

Darkrai was horrified, eyes agape in disgust and terror "Why would I even do that!? And why the hell would you tell them that!?"

And then three very angry muskadeers came in and proceeded to beat the ever loving crap out of our protagonist. Darkrai realized what was up, and began to fight back trying to yell at them to stop, that it was all a misunderstanding. But the three brothers were so angry at Darkrai that they didn't hear a word he said, so they took it outside and began brawling.

Latios gaped.

"Three fighting types very one dark type will be good training for him." said Victini in his ever calm demeanor while the blue bird was at a loss for words "Now where is Team Nova?"

"Over here." said Ariados dryly, she and the rest of Team Nova were resting beside the unconscious lunar swan "You said you had some important news?"

"I do." said Victini gravely "When I ran into our three ever lost heroes, they had just exited from a cave in the east- they said Zero was in there."

"Oh the Chroma Ruins? Yes, I do believe he said he was headed there." laughed Dusknoir.

"Zero apparently gave them a message;" the fire rabbit continued "he says that he fought off all the Dismal Sun goons, and he knows what they are after.

There's a shadow crystal buried in the Chroma ruins. Kim Sun is after it, and right now Zero is standing guard to make sure it doesn't fall into their hands."

Silence passed the three elderly Pokémon. A shadow crystal was serious news. They were forged from negative emotions that built up in normal crystalline formations that naturally occurred. Sometimes these crystals developed seal like properties and were able to store things inside of them, usually energy or emotions. While this hardly warranted caution, on occasions they developed the ability to only take in only negative emotions over any number of years.

What resulted from this accident was a giant purple colored crystal, exposure to it had the power to shut the hearts of Pokémon and turn them into mindless creatures only capable of violence. Worse still, the humans had figured out how to use the power of these crystals to, on occasions, mass mind control an army of Pokémon for their own nefarious goals.

This was the case in the infamous 'Cipher' incident thirteen years ago. Cipher had used the power of a shadow crystal and enhanced it with their strange technology, as a result they nearly achieved world domination. Luckily they were stopped by Lugia and Ho-oh.

"But if Team Dim Gun plans to use a shadow crystals power… if they succeed, we'd need at least a class four to stop it."

"We have Mewtwo don't we?" Ariados pointed out.

"Yes but… is he well enough to do it…?" questioned Victini, knowing all about how the psychic had allowed himself to get eaten by Xeno, in a last resort tactic to kill Absolix "Well at any rate you also have me, so I'm sure I'll be able to stop it if Calestia can't."

"True." Dusknoir said. Master Dunsparce stared.

"And even if I can't, I'm sure my idiot apprentice can." smiled the fire rabbit.

"…Speaking of which, how are you finding Darkrai as an apprentice?" questioned the spider like Ariados. Victini laughed at the question. Dunsparce and Dusknoir perked up as Victini began speaking

"To be perfectly honest, he's an idiot." said Victini simply, yet in a longing way.

Master Dunsparce stared.

"Why?" repeated Victini, smiling "I ask him what his goals were before our training. He said he wants to beat Absolix."

There were small gasps around the old Pokémon and Latios "He seriously said that? Does he even know what he's getting into?"

"He does. I think he really understand just how powerful our beloved enemy is. And yet, he still insists he'll be strong enough to defeat him." Victini looked up "It's funny though... even if he is in over his head, for some reason I want to believe he will."

Master Dunsparce stared. The fire rabbit nodded his head in response "...Yeah, I like him. It takes guts to say you want to take on a being stronger than God."

Victini gave them a solemn look. Latios, who was listening in, leaned his head down. Darkrai had been serious earlier. That man was either crazy or brave, but there was no way to tell which it was…

"Um, excuse me?" it was Gardevoir, who had just entered the room. The blue bird noted small streaks of golden pigment in her hair- she must be dyeing it "Where's Darkrai? I need him to give me a nightmare now."

"Oh he's out back, fighting Meloetta's three guardians because I told him he did XXX and XXX to her."

Gardevoir blushed "Wh-Why would he…? Wait, he's fighting!? I have to help him then!"

Before the fire rabbit could interject she had Teleported away. Victini the victory Pokémon sighed, it wouldn't be the same if Darkrai had help.

"Latios, be a dear and get Gardevoir back would you? Darkrai has to take them on himself." smiled the fire rabbit. Latios obeyed, zipping in the direction of fighting sounds. For a few seconds, nothing was said. Victini hastily looked around, turning his gaze to Cresselia.

"She can't hear anything can she?"

"No." said Dusknoir, narrowing his eyes "You appear to be cautious… what's the matter?"

"… I need to get back to Sinnoh, and the Hall of Origin." spoke Victini "Soon. I need to get a good brawl with Arceus."

"Why would you even think about fighting that monster?" Ariados asked. Dunsparce stared. Victini sighed to himself. He whispered in their ears, in a quiet voice. When he was done, all three members were shocked.

"I… I see…" Dusknoir stated, blinking a few times "But, why Arceus? Is it not tradition to…?"

"Unfortunately I have no children. And no offense to Darkrai, but he isn't enough, I don't think that he can do it." explained the fire rabbit "So yeah, it's a bit unorthodox, but at least I'll be fighting a class Five, so that should still be fun."

"Huh…" Ariados looked down, "Victini I'm… I'm sorry."

"No worries." said the ever smiling fire rabbit "It's just the natural process. That's all. But that's why I need your help, I'll train Darkrai as best I can so I'll need to get out of here quickly and without-"

"YOU MOMDAMNED EASTER BUNNY!" all of a sudden the wall crashed and from it emerged the prince of darkness, enraged, who used his massive hands to grab Victini by the neck, shocking everyone "CALL THEM OFF YOU IDIOT!"

"Oh dear." sighed Victini "You ran away that fast? Even with a type disadvantage I still thought you would last long-"

"Who said I ran!?" Darkrai said angrily "I beat them! But they're still trying to get me despite their wounds all because of what you said!"

At once, Dusknoir saw Victini's eyes light up. The smile came back "You beat them huh… must have been easy with Gardevoir backing you up…"

"Gardevoir? What?" Darkrai questioned. Victini glimmered for a few short seconds. Master Dunsparce could tell that like he, Victini had underestimated Darkrai's astounding growth. And he was clearly loving it.

"Well whatever! The point is I'm crushing you for what ruining my reputation and costing me 40 manly points! Plus, making me injure my semi-friends in the process!"

"V-Create." Victini stormed into Darkrai's chest with an empowered fire attack. Darkrai took the full blow and went flying into the backyard. But he got up and fire back a Dark Pulse. For a couple minutes the two sparred with each other, ending when Victini delivered yet another one of his V-Creates into Darkrai.

"You shouldn't try to take the full brunt of attacks." said the fire rabbit, "My V-Create for instance is incredibly strong if it hits, just two and your already down."

"Who says I'm down!?" the pitch black Pokémon stood back up. However Victini tackled him with Zen Headbutt and he fell again. Nonetheless, the fire rabbit was proud of Darkrai.

"Well, I suppose I can call off the joke now." shrugged Victini "Don't try to take me on Darkrai, you're still 2,000 years too early to match powers with me."

"Screw you…" mumbled Darkrai, still trying to stand back up. Victini gave one last smile before heading out. _"He really is something though…"_

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE WITH KAITI<strong>

"Kairi!" shouted the brown haired ranger above the noise of fighting. The battle between she, Ruby and Lucario had been going on for about ten minutes. The jackal had certainly gotten stronger, that was for sure. Unfortunately for him, Kairi had made some leaps and bounds of her own.

"Octagonal Alcatraz!" Kairi spun her Styler created a shape in the sky, then brought it down hoping to subdue the blue fighting type. Unfortunately the jackal managed to dodge at the last second, where he was met with Ruby and began to fight her.

"No one's making any progress…" Kairi noted "Come on think…!"

**BRAIN BLAST!**

"Not now Narrator…" mumbled the girl. Suddenly, she remembered something:

* * *

><p><em>FLASHBACK- THREE DAYS AGO<em>

_"Your skill with a Styler is really something else though!" spoke Rand to Kairi. The girl smiled nervously, thinking she was undeserving of a compliment "I mean, I've never seen someone use a Super Styler in action before!"_

_"You mentioned that earlier…" she looked at her little device "What exactly is a Super Styler?"_

_"You don't know?" Rand was puzzled "But you did one?"_

_Kairi still had a confused look on her face, so Rand elaborated "A Super Styler is a rare technique only the best rangers can use. The idea is that, well, technology is imperfect so as a result only about 50% of the calm feelings our Stylers exude are actually transmitted."_

_"50%?" Kairi questioned "That's low…"_

_"Actually it's pretty high once you take into account the science behind thought transmission." said the older man "But I digress: sometimes what happens is that with strong enough feelings of friendship, protection, love or will, the Styler is able to act in overdrive and transmit 100% of thought into our Stylers._

_When this happens, it gets a glow around it to symbolize it's acting in overdrive to keep up with your feelings."_

_Kairi remembered- her Styler had a white glow to it when she fought that metagross "I see… so how do I activate it?"_

_"Well, you have to have strong feelings like I said." Rand explained, "And also, you need to get over the metaphysical 'hump' that allows you to reach past 50%. That little bump is actually all in your head, because of how the brain works. I'm not quite sure how to do that part, but from what I hear you need to believe in yourself."_

_"Great, so that thing back there was a one-time deal…?" Kairi sighed. Rand chuckled_

_"Well, if you don't believe in yourself, then take the Gurren Lagann way I suppose."_

_"And that is…?"_

_"Believe in your friends, who believe in you back."_

* * *

><p>"Believe in myself, huh…" Kairi said quietly. She supposed she might as well, considering all the confidence her friends had for her "Ruby, distract Lucario while I get ready!"<p>

"Gotcha!" the false fire type shouted. Turning to Lucario she screamed "Look, it's a shiny Mew!"

"What the hell do you take me for?" growled Lucario, preparing an Aura Sphere "There's no way I'd fall for something so blatantly idiotic-"

"Hiya Lucario!" Mew suddenly floated up in his face, disrupting the Aura Sphere. Mew was sparkling in the light, and now was a blue color "I know about colors now! So I made myself blue!"

"How the… when did… why!?" stammered the blue jackal. Mew floated around Lucario's head before the blue jackal grabbed him and shoved him aside, telling the young legend it was dangerous.

"Dangerous!?" said Mew in a scared voice "You mean like cooties!?"

"…yes…" said the blue jackal, "So go back to where you came from."

The young psychic needn't be told again, he Teleported out of there before the cooties could get him. The blue jackal resumed charging up twin Aura Spheres, remarking on how that was a complete waste of time.

Kairi, who had been concentrating on charging her Styler to super mode while Mew appeared, begged to differ. Before the blue jackal could fire off a single move Kairi's Styler had locked on its target. She whirled and twirled around Lucario in a whirlwind of power, the machine making several rounds as he futilely tried to attack it.

Within seconds she had imbued Lucario with a huge white light. Permeating his body, the Styler performed its function and transmitted her thoughts and emotions to him. When it was over, Lucario understood. He simply understood that Kairi needed the grail.

"Fine, take it." he said in a calmer manner "Urg… my boss is going to be pissed though…"

"Tell him it was for the sake of Oblivia! And the story's plotline!" suggested Ruby as the two girls headed out. Lucario sighed, he might as well.

While the old people outside were still insisting that Kairi needed a key, she ran past them and towards Rand's house. Soon they were back where they had started, with a little more than two hours before the Sky Fortress became active, as well as a Holy Grail in their possession.

The brunette laid it on the table. Rand was already back, as it turned out he had some small success in his research: apparently the Sky Fortress had a single, high energy power source that coursed through the entire complex. An orb of unknown origin, but the key part he learned was that it could be removed.

"So if we can remove it… bam, no more power, and no more island destroying cannon." spoke Rand. It was a god start, now all they need to do was wait for the legendary birds to report. But seeing as how they weren't here yet, Kairi knocked on Trueman's door.

"Ruby, you go help Nema and Rand. I need to do something on my own…" said the brown haired ranger. Ruby nodded and started running towards the other two. Trueman's door opened, he beckoned her in.

Trueman closed the door, making sure it was soundproof.

"So, is the great mysterious Trueman going to reveal his secret?" Kairi asked. Trueman nodded his head up and down. It was time.

"The reason I'm telling you now…" he began "Is because I might be able to help you out."

"Alright. I'm all ears." shrugged Kairi.

"The truth is this:" began the small child, a glint in his eye "I am not the next seer. Everyone in who knew what I was never once thought I would be the seer. But we still moved to the Hall of Origin to protect me, and I still needed Alekandra to help me control my powers…

The truth is this, Kairi. My name is spelled with an 'e' because in the past, Trueman was not a name- it was a title.

All Trueman, once born into this world, have the same powers: they cannot tell any lies, and they force other people to accept whatever we say as truth."

Kairi blinked, soaking it all in "So… mind control…"

"No, not mind control…" Trueman sighed, "Whatever I say, unintentional or not, people will accept it as the absolute truth. Let me demonstrate.

Kairi, you automatically believe me."

And she did. Instantly, Kairi's doubts had disappeared and she accepted the fact that Trueman could do this. When she realized this, a fear overtook her unlike any other. He had did it so easily. Whatever he said, no matter how convoluted, was the absolute truth as long as he said it. This explained the last time he did it, making her not suspicious of him.

"I know right?" Trueman sense Kairi's fear "Scary, isn't it? Don't worry though, I hardly want to rule the world. And besides, there are limits on what I can do."

"Limits?"

"Yeah. Every time I use it, which could be all the time if my word choice isn't careful… I get headaches, and they only get bigger until I can't use my power any more. Also, I can't force you to believe anything that you absolutely think is true or not true. For an example…

Ruby is your hated enemy."

Kairi expected herself to think Ruby would now become what he said. Instead, nothing happened. When she realized she still loved Ruby as a friend, she sighed happily.

"Yeah, at least there's that limitation…" Trueman said "But other than those things, if you are even a little unsure about something… I can force you accept anything I say as truth."

"I see…"

"There's one other thing I can do." Trueman spoke up, "Like I said earlier, everything I say has to be the truth. I literally cannot tell lies. Therefore, if anyone asks me a question, I always have to respond truthfully, _even if I don't know the answer myself_."

"Wh-What?!" Kairi gaped.

"Ask me anything personal about yourself. I'll have to answer truthfully."

Kairi cringed, but decided to test it "Trueman, when did I first meet Zero?"

"Age ten, in East Ranger School." he said, "Until now I had no idea when."

Kairi tried again, this time deeper "…Why did Zero defect from the union?" if Trueman could answer this question, then he was the real deal.

Trueman gaped, as if witnessing something horrible "That's why he's so evil!? That's why… oh my…" he turned to Kairi, a bead of sweat on his face "…he… he was once trained by a group of Rangers called the Elite Eight. During one mission, something happened, a fire went ablaze and suddenly the elite eight were all killed.

Zero stood over their corpses… laughing… saying he was the one who killed them… because he did kill them…

And then he ran away…from you…"

A tear dropped down Kairi's eye. That was exactly what happened. She ran into the fire that day, no regard for her own life, and saw what Zero had done. Those eight extraordinary rangers, the ones who nearly broke Zero out of his icy cold demeanor… they were killed, by him.

"That's… that's what the Ranger Union classified it as." Kairi admitted, "But I'm still trying to prove his innocence. I don't think he'd cause the deaths of the people he most loved."

And at this, Trueman shed tears, because he realized her quest was futile "Kairi… everything I say is the truth… I said he did kill them and… and…"

He was right. He was the True Man. Everything he said, even if it shouldn't be said, was the absolute truth. With no exceptions to this rule, Kairi began to break down. All that time, all that belief in the man who was once her friend and love, he was guilty as charged for the murder of eight of the greatest rangers to have ever existed.

What followed next was inevitable "….you can answer any question right? Any question at all? Then please tell me Trueman:" said Kairi, holding his shoulders and begging for his help

"Why did Zero kill them!? Why would he possibly want to- please!?"

Trueman looked back into his memories. With the question in mind, the true man had to answer it. In his memories newly created, he saw Zero fighting the Elite Eight. The eight great Rangers were trying desperately to kill Zero.

_"We can't let you live… you monster!"_ one shouted, but was quickly cut up by an unseen force. She fell to the ground, bleeding. Zero grinned, both eyes glowing in a mystical purple color. With a laugh, he told them that he would rule the world, and nothing would get in his way.

All at once, Pokémon from all over the forest attacked the elite eight. They resisted, but in the end they were vastly outnumbered. With Zero laughing manically, the swarm of all the Pokémon he had summoned overwhelmed the rangers.

In seconds, all that was left were bones.

Then, Zero clutched his head as if in pain. But he was not in pain, he was crying hard.

Slowly, he stood up. At this time, Kairi appeared, asking what had happened in between breaths.

_"…I killed the elite eight."_ Zero answered her. Kairi gaped as Zero began to walk away _"We will never see each other again."_ with the forest still on fire, the yellow haired man walked into the flames and vanished.

_"I really am him…"_ Zero said to himself _"I was right to run away from Darkrai…"_

Trueman went out of his micro trance. He now knew why Zero had done it. The elite eight attacked him first. But moreover, they had a good reason to attack Zero; a very good reason. They needed to destroy Zero to ensure the safety of the world.

"Kairi…" Trueman said slowly. The brunette was still clutching him, needing to know. But as soon as Trueman answered, she automatically wished she hadn't even asked.

"Zero is the reincarnation of the White Knight!"

* * *

><p>"A what crystal?"<p>

"Shadow crystal." explained Victini to Darkrai. The two were in a room with Cresselia, who could listen but not speak, Gardevoir since she was uninjured, as well as Chairperson Erma on the wall screen "Zero says he found one, and that's what the Dim Sun's are after."

"A shadow crystal… I thought we destroyed all of them…" Erma muttered "Well this explains how they are able to control Pokémon in such a manner…"

"So what, we have to destroy it now or something?" Darkrai questioned.

"Unfortunately it's not that simple…" Erma began, "If a shadow crystal is destroyed by normal means, it releases too much negative energy that could put an entire island depressed for five years. Worse still, it can cause all kinds of disease and even kill those close to it."

"Oh…" frowned Gardevoir "Then… how to we get rid of it?"

"Well, usually to get rid of these things we need a dark type to absorb all of the energy from it." said the fire rabbit, "Dark types have a natural resistance and affinity to them. But they have to be able to handle the strain of all that negativity first."

"Got it, let's go!" Darkrai the dark type began to fly away. He was caught by Victini "Not quite yet, you couldn't possible handle the combined total of who knows how many years of negative feelings… yet."

Darkrai looked like he was about to argue, but stopped himself "…Fine. But then, what do we do about it?"

"Luckily I know of another way." Erma smiled. She pulled up some ancient drawings, describing three giant stones with mystical properties "As the shadow crystal is created by absorbing negative emotions, we can negate it by using crystals that have absorbed positive ones. And luckily for all of you, I know of the location of three 'luminous crystals'."

"So if we get those, we can use them to destroy the shadow crystal?" the green haired psychic asked.

"Yes. The three luminous crystals that I know of are all about 1/3 the size of a normal shadow crystal. So with all three in hand, by touching them all at the same time the negative and positive energies will cancel out to zero. That done, you can just punch it or whatever to eliminate it for good."

"But the shadow crystal will need guarding, or else those Dim Stun idiots might take it." said Darkrai smartly.

"He's right. Until we can get those crystals, they might try to take it again." noted Victini "But the shadow crystal causes madness for most people and Pokémon… I'm not sure how long Zero can hold out. But…" smiled the fire rabbit "Once again, dark types are immune to its effect…" he looked at Darkrai "And, I should be strong enough anyway to resist it as long as I'm at full power."

Gardevoir tensed up, did this mean…? "Excellent. Get over there and relieve Zero. Guard the shadow crystal until we can retrieve the three luminous ones!" Erma said happily, to Cresselia she turned "I'll leave the retrieval to Calestia- you'll be ready soon right?"

Cresselia nodded her head. She was almost ready- just one more day and night and she would have accumulated enough power to completely heal her teammates.

"W-Wait!" Gardevoir stuttered "I want to go with Darkrai too!"

"Sorry Ms.," Victini said apologetically "you'd be affected by the crystals madness. We can't have a liability on our hands."

Gardevoir looked down, sad. Darkrai shifted his eyes away from her, it was for the best after all "Don't worry. I'll be back before you know it." he grinned at her. The female psychic smiled back and wished him good luck. Darkrai silently hoped Gallade remembered the promise he had made with him.

Victini and Darkrai said their fast goodbyes, then headed to the Chroma Ruins while Gardevoir and the three members of Team Nova waved them off.

Little did they know that neither of them would be coming back.


	21. Satoshi Tajiri Retcons the Series

Chapter fifty seven: Satoshi Tajiri Retcons the Series

* * *

><p>Blake Hall sat in his darkened office. No light was on, and the natural sunlight outside was impeded by the closed blinds. He was reading the latest reports from his men, frowning. The shadow crystal had not been captured because of that meddling Mitsurashi Zero. Not even an army could stand up against that man, no, that would only make him happier…<p>

Worse still, he had reports that one of his men had hijacked the Ranger Union's transmissions, and Erma knew of his plan. Luckily Blake Hall still had the element of surprise- no one knew, that he, Blake Hall was actually-

Blake Hall, the leader of the world's greatest criminal organization, Team Dim Sun! Erma might know his plan, but not who she was up against. He would get that shadow crystal for certain, he just need to think of how…

"Incoming report from Oblivia!" his green haired assistant Wheeler came in "The SocieTea say they want to team up with you! Do you want to accept or not?"

"Oh great, not those dorks again!" Blake Hall was annoyed "Tell them that no matter WHO their leader is or how many times they change their name, I will NOT team up with them! Bunch of dorks...Lame name…. mutter mutter…"

"Very well sir!" Wheeler jotted down some notes "And one more thing- good news this time- The Sinistrio say they are done training and are awaiting your orders!"

This pleased the black clad man "Excellent… tell them to go fetch me the shadow crystal will you? Bring them up to speed."

"Will do sir!" Wheeler exited. Blake began to chuckle to himself, not even the legendary Zero could defeat all three of the Sinistrio at the same time.

The only other threat that needed to be addressed was the team that Arceus sent, a small group of Legendary's-in-training called Calestia. They had defeated one of his admins, Kincaid, quite easily, not to mention several grunts and ruined his plans in Pueltown…

"Sir!" Wheeler came back in. He looked nervous "You… you know about the fairy type right?"

Blake Hall paused.

"Of course I know about the fairy type! Everyone knows that the fairy type is real! I've known forever that jigglypuff was a fairy type but didn't mention it until now!"

"Okay, good." Wheeler exited again. Blake Hall rubbed his temples and sighed. He supposed he could ignore Calestia for now, it wasn't like they could do anything to stop him…

* * *

><p>Gallade and Gliscor lay in two separate beds. Gardevoir tended to them occasionally.<p>

"By the way, you all know that Gardevoir is a psychic/fairy type right?" Gliscor asked.

"Of course. We knew it all along, we just never mentioned it until now." Gallade replied.

"It's true, I have always known I was part fairy." added the female psychic.

"By the way, how did I get here?" wondered Darkrai, who was not with Victini off to the Chroma Ruins, but rather back at the ranger base in Vientown.

"I… don't… know…" the injured ground type answered slowly. No one else did either. Darkrai sighed and ran off to go pluck some berries. Mysterious forces were at work again, making nonsense out of the plot.  
>Another typical day.<p>

Also since when was Gardevoir a fairy type?

* * *

><p><strong>WE HAVE ALWAYS KNOWN. REALLY.<strong>

The three legendary spirit birds came back after their successful exploration of the Sky Fortress. Kairi and Trueman exited from Trueman's room, eager to hear their stories. The brunette had given Trueman strict orders not to tell anyone what they had discovered about Zero, at least until Kairi knew what to do with it…

The White Knight… they said he would return one day, but like this? To Zero? Though this did explain a lot about him.

"Did you find her!?" Rand was still worried.

"We did!" said Magtres, "And we told her help was on the way!"  
>Rand pulled up something else he found from his studies- a map of the fortress itself. Together, the three birds began telling them specifically what was in each structure. Leanne herself was in a prison chamber located in the bottom left of the spherical fortress.<p>

"But she's being guarded, so you'll need to take them out first." Frigiduno noted, "There are three guards surrounding her, each one with different Pokémon."

"I'll get her back no matter what!" Rand was determined,

"I'll go save Leanne, Kairi, you take down the SocieTea!"

The plan was this: The SocieTea were on the upper floors of the fortress, and Leanne was at the bottom. Kairi would come in from the top and activate the Grail, destroying the shield so that both could come in from opposite sides. Rand would get Leanne, Kairi would get the four bad guys. While they did this, the three legendary spirits would fly around randomly and try to scare off the steelhead.

They would do it just as the SocieTea prepared to fire its next round, thirty minutes before the designated time.

"Then we have thirty minutes to prepare." Kairi said nervously "Speaking of which, how can we even get up there? We'd need to ride something fast to do it, and I don't think Staraptor will cut it!"

"SHE'S RIGHT. IF ONLY WE WERE STILL ALIVE…"

"Well you know…" Trueman said nervously, "We still have those two…"

Kairi frowned, not understanding. Then, she realized who the boy was talking about "No. They nearly killed us last time I am NOT getting back on one of their deathtraps ever agai-"

"You're in luck!" said Dr. Alakazam, pointing to a newly made rocket ship "We're just about done repairing it!"

Kairi stared at her executioner- fifty tons of metal in an aerodynamic shape designed for space travel. And crashing in to the Sky Fortress, apparently "Why… why…?" questioned the brunette.

"We hardly have any options, and rocket travel is one of the fastest modes of transportation in the world." said the black haired Rand.

"Ruby, can you learn Teleport so that we don't have to deal with this nonsense?" Kairi was still uneasy about the rocket.

"Sorry Kairi, Teleport is a psychic type move and I'm fire typed." shrugged her blue haired partner. The brunette sighed again.

"By the way, why are we taking him along?" Rand pointed to Trueman, who stood there nervously waving. In secret, she and the truth speaker had come to realize that his powers would be useful in the fortress. Trueman after all, could convince anyone of anything, so for him it would be a cinch to tell the SocieTea to stop fighting. It really was the perfect plan- no blows needed to be dealt, just some words and everything would be fixed.

Of course, she couldn't tell Rand that the young boy had absolute mind control and other truth powers, so she made up a small lie: she said that Trueman was getting his seer visions, and she brought him along in hopes one of them could help her.

Rand was suspicious, but trusted her judgment on this matter. He hastily looked at his wristwatch, one hour and twelve minutes before the cannon became active. By the speed they were repairing the vessel, they should make it… and Rand would be there personally to see the destruction of these evil men.

* * *

><p>Dr. Edward woke up. He and his three partners in crime were sleeping in an elegant chamber that vibrated ever so slightly. The blue and grey haired villain stood up, realizing he was wearing a part of the golden armor, the headpiece.<br>He looked around his room.

"Oh sh*t not again!" he became angry "Hocus! Kasa! Arley! Wake up!"

The two elderly men and one ancient woman slowly rose from their respective beds. Arley the large man had the chain mail around his chest, Hocus the eccentric magician had the left gauntlet, and Kasa the master of disguise had the right.

"What Ed? You woke us up early…" Arley noted the time. Edward seemed flustered, pacing about.

"Do any of you remember what we're doing!?" he demanded.  
>A pause among the group.<p>

"I…uh…" Arley looked at his armor, confused that he even had armor.

"Oh no not again!" Kasa cried, "I knew that coming out of retirement was a bad idea!"

"What?" Ed said.

"I said coming out of retirement was bad! We should have just stayed at the home!"

"What?" Ed said.

"I said-"

"What?"

"ED DO YOU HAVE YOU'RE HEARING AID IN!?" she screamed angrily.

"What?" asked the clueless old person.

"DO! YOU! HAVE! YOR! HEARING! AID! IIIINNN!" screamed Kasa at the top of her lungs.

"Hold on, I think my hearing aid isn't in correctly…" the doctor slowly adjusted his hearing device until he could listen to Kasa's angry ranting. He quickly dismissed her- they had work to do.

"Okay now let's think!" Ed 'the thinker' told his group, "Now look, we're in a strange room with fancy beds, and we're wearing what appears to be armor made from gold! Any of that ring any bells!?"

"Yes!" Hocus said happily.

"Really?"

"Wait… no…"

The elderly villains were becoming frustrated with their senility. All Ed could remember was that they were about to do something very important, the question was, what?

"Do we all remember that the fairy type exists?" Kasa asked.

"Well of course! Everyone knows about the fairy type!" Ed said, wanting to get onto more pressing topics.

"Wait I remember something, for real this time!" Hocus suddenly said, "I remember that we were looking for this golden armor on our bodies for a long time!"

"Okay, okay, that's a good start…" Ed began pacing, "We wanted the golden armor, why? Why did we need this armor so badly?"

"It makes us look pretty?" suggested the giant Arley.

"…maybe…but recall that we are evil, so it is more likely we wanted it for evil purposes…"

"What about somehow using it to take over the world?" asked Kasa. At this, invisible light bulbs flickered on in all their minds. Yes, that's right! They needed this golden armor because it would help them take over the world! And now they had it!

"So it is likely…" Edward eyed this strange new place "We have already begun our conquest of earth, with our 'golden armor' here. Well that simplifies things somewhat, does anyone remember the plan?"

No one had any idea.

Suddenly, a glimmer of hope- Ed remembered that he had a notebook to help him recall things. He walked back to his bed and reached under his pillow, where he saw his notes. His notes confirmed what they had already deduced; they had gathered the golden armor because it could mind control Pokémon and would help them take over the world.

The last entry said that he needed to find the Sky Fortress now, and then use its giant destructive laser plasma particle cannon to blow sh*t up and scare everyone into doing their bidding.

"Okay good! So before all of this, we were looking for the Sky Fortress!" Hocus pointed to the writing on the small notebook. They took a look another at their surroundings, wondering where they were.

"Have we been arrested!?" Kasa wondered aloud.

"Oh no I think we have…!" the doctor gritted his teeth "We must have been looking for the fortress and were arrested by those pesky rangers!"

"Also there is a button here." said Hocus, who had found a shiny red button next to their beds. It was marked _Prisoner_ "I want to press it to see what happens…"

The magician pressed the button, and from down below a cage was lifted up and brought into the room that they were standing in. It was an energy shield cage, coursing with a light blue tint and containing a blue haired female human. The woman stared at the group of elderly villains, who stared right back. Both parties were confused, until Edward cleverly deduced that she must be their capturer.

"Let me out!" she demanded.

"No, YOU let US out!" Edward screamed back. Silently to the others he whispered "Why is our capturer in a cage?"

"Probably just to give us a false sense of security." Arley whispered back. Louder he shouted "You WILL tell us how to get out of here, or so help us we will use the power of the golden armor to force you!"

"What!?" the blue haired woman was confused. At this, Edward stepped forward and declared his animosity.

"You won't stop us!" he yelled at the blue haired woman, "We, the SocieTea, will always win in the end! And you will not stop us from achieving total control over all of planet Earth!"

"Why do we want to take over the world again?" Kasa asked innocently. Ed paused. They all did, contemplating their nefarious goals No one remembered why they wanted world domination so badly.

The woman saw this and justifiably stated "Wow, lame."

"We are not lame!" shouted all four at the same time "In fact, we're so not lame that Blake freaking Hall wants to team up with us!"

Suddenly, a bulb flickered on in their heads "Hey, I remember about teaming up with him!"

"Yeah!" the four began discussing what they remember about Blake. The woman in the cage meanwhile, was confused at this statement. Blake Hall? As in, THE Blake Hall, the CEO of the gigantic company Altru Incorporated? Why would he want to team up with these dorks, after all it wasn't like he was evil or anything…

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE WITH BLAKE HALL<strong>

Hall sat at the end of a long wooden table, fork in one hand and knife in another. He eagerly awaited Wheeler, who as serving him dinner on a shiny silver platter "Here you are sir!"

He lifted the tray's lid off of it, revealing a delicious meal of severed kitten heads on a tray of parsley.

"Ah, I love how all of the food here is fresh and fun!" Blake Hall licked his lips, wiping off some traces of kitten blood onto a napkin "Dinner and a show, what more could a person ask for?"

"Indeed sir!" said Wheeler as Blake took his first bites.

* * *

><p>"I wonder if he accepted our partnership?" wondered Edward, "Well whatever, first we need to get out of jail! SO FREE US YOU BLUE HAIRED WOMAN YOU!"<p>

The blue haired woman realized that the four were acting completely senile. Noting this, she decided to use it to her advantage…

"Okay, I guess I have no choice but to release you…" shrugged the prisoner nonchalantly. She supposed she could break out of here before her husband worried any more. The villainous team grinned "So if you really want to force me to free you, first get rid of this case by pressing that blue button next to the red one."

They turned and saw that there was indeed a blue button next to the red one. Hocus of course wanted to press the button but Edward stopped him, stating that this was all too easy and something was amiss.

"You're right, it is, I'm sorry for lying." said the woman, "If you want to be free you'll need to bribe me with a golden armor piece."

"Deal!" said Edward. But before he could press the button, a large man with grey clad armor burst into the room.

"I'm sorry for interrupting your naptime but I have urgent news!" he shouted.

The villainous group examined the newcomer up and down "Uh… who are you?"

"…Carl?" the steelhead replied, "The uh, messenger steelhead?"

"…right. Yeah." Edward said back, "Um, so how many of you are in jail? Are you like, prison guards or something?"

"Um, if you mean the Sky Fortress, there's at least 100 of us all around the levels of it, and we're ready to follow your orders and begin the mission to conquer the world."

The prisoner smacked herself, she was so close to succeeding until he came in. The SocieTea had blank expressions on their faces, none of them remembered doing any of that, but apparently they had an army at their disposal.

"R-Right! Because we're about to conquer the world! Right, Ed?"" Arley motioned.

"Y-Yeah! We all totally remember that!" Kasa spoke up. Ed was still baffled but told the Steelhead that they would begin their conquest of Oblivia immediately. But first, he had to ask what the urgent news was.

"Right, well we picked up something on radar and it looks like some kind of fast moving object about to ram into-"

**_BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSHHHHHH!_**

A fast moving object, more specifically Dr. Alakazam's rocket ship, crashed into the Sky Fortress' cockpit room with a loud sound effect. Nose sticking out into the room, the rest of it jutting off to the side, it was a wonder to everyone present how it even got there.

Just then, the latch opened and a group of individuals jumped out of it and sprang into action. One was a dark haired old male, followed by a brunette girl in blue, then followed in turn by an alakazam with a skitty on his shoulder and holding the emergency bazooka. The last to come out was a brown haired boy, looking around nervously.

Before the four elderly villains could even ask what was going on, the dark haired man leapt to their prisoner, the alakazam fired off his bazooka and the girl summoned her partner, a blue haired gardevoir, who fired off a Psychic at the ceiling.

However, they were still prepared.

"Machamp!" screamed the burly Arley. In an instant an obviously hypnotized machamp materialized in the room, and used its arm to block the incoming bazooka, which exploded upon contact but failed to lay even a scratch on the evil group. Just like that one scene in Attack on Titan.

Because hey, we're already ripping off many other things, why not be specific for once?

"The emergency bazooka failed!" shouted Dr. Alakazam. Arley, to dispel the chaos, quickly ordered his machamp to crush the ground in front of them. Kairi tried to defend but the fighting type was too quick, and launched an unfathomably large four armed full powered blow to the floor, instantly tearing the space in front of them apart and causing all of the intruders to fall.

Yelling as they fell, the SocieTea gathered themselves "Intruders…"

"How did they break through the barrier?" Kasa wondered. Ed quickly looked at the monitors- it showed a general lack of shielding around their Sky Fortress. Something had taken it out.

"I recognized one of them, Rand, the prisoner's husband." Hocus still had his eye on the prize, "But, but! We still have his precious spouse, we can use her to…"

However, the smoke was clear enough for them to see that the cage that Leanne was in was destroyed by a powerful Psychic attack, empty on the inside. The four grimaced, without their hostage the Rangers had an incentive to attack, which they were probably doing now.

"Don't worry. We figured this might happen." Edward smirked, not losing one ounce of confidence "Larry! Are you still there!?"

"Um, it's Carl…" said the metal clad man behind them.

"Yes, that's what I meant Carrie!" replied Ed, "Alert the rest of the steelhead! Track down the prisoners and get them back to us!"

"R-Right away sir!" the steelhead saluted. He ran out of the room to prepare for the war. Four villains stood icily still. They knew what was going on, and they knew exactly how to make them pay. Only one question still remained.

"Where are we and what are we doing here!?"

* * *

><p><strong>LAME<strong>

Two floors below the balcony was where the group fell down. Kairi, a bit injured, slowly stood up and found herself among the rest of them regaining their composure. The good Dr. was there with his daughter, helping her up. Rand was a bit farther away, having already gotten up and embracing his wife in a hug.  
>"Wait, where's Trueman!?" Kairi questioned in a worried tone.<p>

"Here…" moaned a voice not too far from her. Trueman had landed on Ruby, who was fiercely hugging him to protect the boy. Kairi thanked Ruby, helping them both up and gathering her comrades together.

"Here's the new plan." the brunette looked up at the hole in the ceiling "Since we have Leanne, Rand, you and the doctor get out of here. Trueman and I will take care of the SocieTea."

Rand was shocked, the initial idea was for them to go together. And why Trueman? Why did the little maybe-seer stay in the most dangerous area?

Naturally the brown haired ranger and the brown haired boy had taken this factor into account. But Trueman had to remain in order for Kairi's plan to work. Luckily, his unique 'abilities' allowed Rand and the others to be easily coaxed, though with a minor headache in the process.

"Alright we'll leave things to you." Rand nodded once. Leanne looked at Kairi, wishing her luck before the good doctor got them all out with a Teleport move. The brunette held the Holy Grail in her hand, never having let go of it since they crashed the ship.

She looked at Trueman nervously, but he nodded his head. She looked at Ruby, who gave her a thumbs up and signaled she was ready for battle. From out of nowhere, the three spirit birds appeared once again, having seen everything but deciding not to tell anyone about who Trueman really was.

"YOU HAVE OUR SUPPORT," nodded the transparent zapdos "LET'S END THIS ONCE AND FOR ALL."

"Agreed!" shouted Magtres and Frigiduno. Kairi and Ruby thanked them for their support. Together with Trueman, the six made their way back upstairs, where they were confronted with a solid door blocking their way back up.

"Crap… and I don't suppose there are any fliers around…?"said Kairi sarcastically. Just then, a voice flickered on.

_"Hello Kairi. You may know me as Ed, Ed the thinker! My cohorts and I are very displeased with the interior decorating you did at our balcony. Therefore and thus, we have agreed to use the Super Exploding Beam of Ultra Death to lay waste to… Renbow Island. Including of course Cocona village, the rasp cavern… and your dear friend Rand."_

"No!" she gritted her teeth "…You can't threaten me! Your cannon won't be operational until half an hour from now!"

_"How very insightful. While that may be true, you are but one person while we are four. See that door in front of you? We used seals to make it stronger, it cannot be penetrated unless you can defeat my three friends in combat, in each of their three respective areas._

_In other words girl, we are stalling. And we will win. Bye bye."_

the voice flickered off, and Kairi noted three passageways to the left, right, and front of the door they needed to get to.

"Ever try playing a Pokémon game speed run?" asked Ruby playfully "Because we're in one right now."

"This is no time for jokes, what do we do, human?" Frigiduno asked tensely. Kairi bit her lip, trying to think quickly. It seemed as though they had no choice but to go down each isle and fight the guard at the end, but this would be incredibly inefficient and they were already running out of time….

Should they split up? She needed to think… what would her friends do in a situation like this?

* * *

><p><strong>Kairi's imagination:<strong>

Darkrai: "Beat the crap out of them!"

* * *

><p>No, she couldn't just do that since there were long hallways and it would take a while to circumnavigate them…<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Kairi's imagination:<strong>

Cresselia: "Use your Brain Powers!"

* * *

><p>…she had none of that…<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Kairi's imagination:<strong>

Mary Tzu: "I think-"

* * *

><p>NO.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Kairi's imagination:<strong>

Gliscor: "I don't know… just bullsh*t the situation I guess?"

* * *

><p>Yes. Yes, that's it.<p>

The brunette concentrated carefully, deeply straining herself as she meditated. Making a sign with her hands, she gathered every ounce of dignity she could muster and called forth her chakra.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu."

She single handedly cloned herself twice, then Trueman, then Ruby. There were now three of each, much to the utter shock and astonishment of the three legendary birds.

"Did… did she just…!?" Magtres gaped.

"BUT THAT ISN'T… HOW COULD SHE…!?" stuttered the electric bird.

"How did you…?" questioned the icy Frigiduno. The three Kairi's stared hard at her and replied

"Because the Fairy Type!"

And then all three, along with the three Truemen and Ruby's ran in three separate directions, each one taking a different path. They left behind only footprints in the thin layer of dust covering the floor, and three bewildered birds.

"What the crap is a Fairy Type!?"

* * *

><p><strong>FIRST PATH<strong>

Kairi, Trueman and Ruby ran down a plain and well lit path. It was a simple course, and they got to the end rather quickly. But when they came to the end, they came across something completely unexpected.

"Kairi?"

Standing in front of them was none other than Zero Mitsurashi himself. Kairi could barely understand what he was doing here. On the other hand, her brain could barely function since Zero was also shirtless and wearing some incredibly tight pants.

"Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-…" Kairi babbled incoherently at she looked upon Zero's washboard abs and toned chest muscles. Not to mention his incredibly tight and incredibly revealing pants. The blonde haired model stared at her nonchalantly "What are you doing here?"

"I, uh, I, um, there's…" the girl could barely control her hormones. Luckily for all of them, Ruby stepped forth and held a finger pointed to the hot bishounen in front of them, declaring that this was in fact, not Zero.

"What?" Trueman asked.

"It doesn't smell like him at all." Ruby stuck her tongue out "So stand back ya'll, 'cause Imma light this faker!" she summoned a Will-O-Wisp attack in her hands. Before Kairi could protest she shot the ball of firing onto Zero and it merged internally, igniting him on fire.

"Aaaggghh!" the burning Zero screamed. The fire was so hot his skin was melting, or rather, his false waxy skin was melting off. Thinking quickly the man tore off all the false burning skin and leapt out of the costume, leaving the real person unscathed.

"I was so close too…" muttered Kasa, the master of disguise "Just another ten seconds…"

"You dare fool the heart of an innocent maiden!?" Kairi yelled in rage, red with embarrassment. Kasa looked at her drolly "Girl, I doubt you were thinking innocent thoughts. Come, Ditto!"

From the ceiling a small pink blob fell downwards and slid next to Kasa, who grinned. Kairi cocked her head in confusion, how was a ditto going to be a threat? It was simply too small and cute to pose any harm whatsoever.

"That's where you're wrong dear." smiled the elderly woman. She held up her golden gauntlet, which gave her even more power "With this…Ditto! Use imposter, change into a hybrid of every pseudo-legendary in existence!"

The pink blob suddenly began morphing and changing its shape. With the power of the six pseudo legendarys in its DNA, it internally merged and combined their characteristics, forming a gigantic grey colored dragon, with a multitude of spikes, wings and mouths. Its massive aura was overwhelming, and the once small ditto had become a twenty foot behemoth wielding the power of all the pseudo legends.

"Also, it's a fairy type." Kasa grinned like a troll "Ditto! Destroy them!"

With a cute cry it brought down a massive Dragon Claw trying to crush the three. Ruby got up and launched a Psychic at its massive hand, while Kairi activated her super Styler abilities to transform her normal Styler into a glowing and multiple colored weapon.

With it, she began swirling around the monstrosity in a tornado of power. The thing tried to get her by using Outrage, Meteor Mash and even a Draco Meteor, but it was futile thanks to Ruby and her deflecting psychic powers.

"Ditto what are you doing!? Earthquake, now!" Kasa commanded. The thing launched a shockwave of earth in all directions, the seismic attack hitting anything and everything on the ground. Ruby used her psychic powers to levitate her and Kairi upwards, but then the fairy type hit them with a powerful Outrage, of which the brunette had to use her Styler as a shield to survive the attack.

Nonetheless, the two girls crashed into the wall because of the massive force. They stood back up groggily, but Kasa merely laughed.

"Idiots, you can't win!"

"I wasn't trying to win." said Kairi calmly, brushing off some dirt "Just trying to stall."

It was then that Trueman tapped Kasa's knee. Before she could question why the child was even here, Trueman looked at her in the eyes and proclaimed "You aren't evil. You don't want to destroy Oblivia, and you don't want to hurt us or anyone else."

Kairi watched the magic unfold. There was no flash of light, no sounds, nothing out of the ordinary occurred. But when the true man had finished speaking, Kasa had recalled her ditto and surrendered the golden armor piece.

"Whoa, how did he do that!?" Ruby gaped in excitement. Kairi frowned, she would have to fill her in on that later. Kasa announced she was taking off, and used her Ditto to turn into a pidgeot, which carried here into the open skies.

"Path one complete." smirked Kairi. She ran back to the center with a golden armor piece.

* * *

><p><strong>SECOND PATH<strong>

"…why are we in the sky?" Trueman asked Kairi. Currently, they were somehow floating on clouds, a single misstep and they ground 1,000ft below them hardly looked comfortable.

"Welcome to my illusion!" said a gigantic version of Hocus the magician. It was obviously a fake, but they couldn't figure out how he did it "The rules of this game are simple: try not to fall!"

Just then, a gigantic crobat appeared. It was much larger than the average crobat, with a wingspan five times bigger than Kairi was tall. It hissed at them angrily and then prepared for a dive bomb.

"Good luck with that!" Hocus laughed. The thing used a Brave Bird on them, and Kairi was just barely able to make a shield to deflect most of the damage. The force sent them a ways back, and Trueman nearly fell off had it not been for Ruby's saving grace.

"Ruby, take Trueman to safety! Use your psychic powers to locate Hocus and get him to call this thing off!" Kairi said in a rush, observing the predator in the sky.

"But I don't have psychic powers! I'm a fire type!" Ruby questioned.

Kairi face palmed herself "Then use fire powers to locate him! Your Telepathy ability even!"

"Oh yeah!" Ruby remembered that she could read minds. Unfortunately, she wasn't very good at using her ability, so it had never been successfully done before. This seemed to be the best time to get it right so with Trueman safety escorted she began to concentrate.

Kairi used her Styler to attack the gigantic crobat as hard and fast as she could. The thing's size made it incredibly difficult to loop around, not to mention that despite its size it was also incredibly fast. The flying poison Pokémon tried spitting out Sludge Bombs and Toxics from every angle imaginable. It was like fighting the metagross again, one hit and she would be pushing up daisies for certain.

But, as fate would have it, she hardly needed to do anything more. Because just then Ruby read the mind of Hocus and tracked him down. With a few words from Trueman, the attack was called off. His crobat was soon called off and the golden armor piece was off.

"Well, I guess I'll just vanish! Good luck with defeating Ed!" the man smiled cheerfully before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"That was easy…" Trueman sighed, relieved.

"Good thing too." said Kairi, "Let's get back and hope our clones have beaten the other two, we don't have much more time."

* * *

><p><strong>THIRD PATH<strong>

"Unlike the others I need no trick or traps…" said Arley, standing straight before the three "Come Kairi, you and me, one on one while my machamp takes on your gardevoir!"

"MA-CHAMP." growled the fighting type.

"…one on one… as in…?" Kairi questioned.

"As in, physical brawl, you and me!" grinned the wrestler. Kairi backed off, knowing she stood no chance against a former fighter who had at least 200lbs on her. Instead, she sent in Trueman. Arley was greatly confused by this move, until Trueman spoke up and told him to call off everything and stop being evil. Immediately, as with the previous two cases, Arley agreed, surrendered the golden armor piece and walked away.

"That was really easy." blinked the brunette "Trueman, you rock!"

"R-Really?" the child asked.

"Yeah! I'll dismiss us and hope the rest have done their part!"

* * *

><p>The three spirit birds were still in the central area. One by one, they saw all three of the seals on the door vanish, until it finally creaked open. Kairi, Trueman and Ruby came back from the 2nd path, and all in less than ten minutes.<p>

"Geeze, you three…" said the impressed Frigiduno. They had taken care of the enemies in no time at all.

"One left." said Kairi, "The leader of the… urg… SocieTea, Edward. One left, and then we can get the power source, remove it, and save Oblivia!"

"LET'S GO!" shouted Elecdos. All six of them went up a spiraling staircase. Reaching two floors up, they arrived at the top where a final, gigantic door blocked their path. The ominous tone of the situation became clearer when her Styler beeped

_"Warning, extreme danger detected."_ Kairi just stared at it, then returned her attention to the door "Let's do this. Ready Trueman?"

"Ready!"

Ruby busted down the door with a giddy exclamation, where they arrived in the balcony of the top most room. Edward had hardly expected them, so he gaped in shock when he saw them there. He stood up rapidly, tripping a few times due to his astonishment.

"This is it, Ed." Kairi said, bringing out her Styler and preparing, "Go Trueman!"

"Ed! You don't want to be evil anymore, you just want to return to being a doctor!" Trueman shouted. Ed stared at them blankly. Trueman, for the first time, felt no headache when his powers were used. He felt that something was dangerously wrong…

"What?" asked Ed, "What did you say!?"

Trueman yelled again "You don't want to be evil! You don't want to rule the world, just go back to being a doctor!"

"What?" Ed asked again, "Oh shoot, I think my hearing aid is broken again…"

It was then that Kairi realized a fatal weakness in Trueman's abilities: the fact that in order for them to work the person in question must be able to hear Trueman in the first place. And this naturally made Ed their greatest foe- for his age had taken away most of his hearing, and therefore Trueman's powers were useless against him.

"So, it's come to this…" said Ed in a low voice "I don't know how you beat my compatriots, but in their place I shall finish you. In fifteen minutes Renbow Island will be destroyed, and I will have the undivided attention of Oblivia, as its ruler!"

"Not if I can help it." said Kairi lowly.

"What?"

"Not if… never mind let's just fight!"

"What?"

"I SAID-"

"Whatever! Come forth, my greatest Pokémon…

STUNFISK!"

For a portal came the most derpy looking Pokémon in existence- it was a brown and yellow flat fish, with two eyes on either of its sides and a small mouth in the middle. The three legendary birds were agape with fear. Kairi was agape with stupidity.

"That's it? That's your trump card, a freaking derpemon?"

"Do not underestimate it Kairi!" yelled Magtres, "Those things are evil, pure evil I say!"

"I… I think she's got this one." said Trueman. Kairi stepped forth, almost laughing at the sight of the piddly little thing. Edward commanded it to attack, and Kairi held up her Styler, expecting an easy battle.

She was dead wrong.

The fish flipped up and out, gaining a couple inches of ground. When it did, it suddenly curled its mouth in a wide and twisted grin, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth. Its eyes squinted into a terrifying visage and Kairi became enveloped in fear.

**"So, this is my latest challenge? Well, she should be tasty at least…"** it spoke in the most horrible, grating voice imaginable. Before Kairi could form words on how horrifying this was, it shot a fully charged Hyper Beam in her direction.

Ruby thought fast and saved her by grabbing and throwing her to the side. They both tumbled straight to the floor before the black beam surged past them and obliterated the ceiling.

**"Yes, dance you fool! DANCE FOR AMUSEMENT, AHAHAHA!"** it yelled with orgasmic lust, sending Discharges and Thunderbolts this way and that while Kairi shielded herself and her partner with the Styler. The thing continued to laugh, using Earthquake to send Kairi tumbling down, then firing a Thunder straight at her.

Luckily Ruby was prepared and used a Light Screen to shield her partner. While the stunfisk continued to laugh and fire its Thunder attack, Kairi spoke to Ruby hoping for a plan "How is this thing so evil!?"

"I don't know!" Ruby screamed back "Kairi I… I can't keep this up much longer!"

The next second the shield burst and the full force of the electricity zapped the two girl. They cried in pain of being electrocuted, Ruby absorbing the brunt of the damage but Kairi still crying harder since she was only human.

When the attack ceased, Kairi and Ruby were on their knees. It was difficult to stand, and the two were shaking, kept conscious only by their enormous wills. The stunfisk crept closer to them, a small amount of drool at its gaping maw. Trueman kept yelling for them to stop, face full of tears, but it had no effect since Edward was too deaf and the brown fish had no ears.

Grinning like a maniac, and teeth chattering with ferocity, the stunfisk bit down on the helpless Kairi, gnawing at her arm in a cannibalistic manner. Kairi managed to push him back but the fish merely growled and hit her with a full on Thunderbolt.

Or, he would have, but by then Kairi had summoned her Styler and used its super mode to repel the attack, then launch itself around the fish's tiny body. But no matter how hard she tried, the Styler seemed to have no effect on it. Looking upon the concentrated Edward, the three birds realized that this was the power of the golden armor- as fast as she was going, even in super mode, the armor still gave off its commanding aura. This effectively reduced her ranger abilities to nothing.

Kairi realized this, but was in constant attack and counter mode to combat her demonic opponent. It was only by her good luck that the three birds noticed this as well. They knew what needed to be done, Trueman would somehow have to get rid of Edward, so that Kairi and Ruby could defeat the stunfisk.

"So it's… all up to me…" Trueman as incredibly nervous. What could he do against him? He was a ten year old! He barely knew algebra, much less how to beat someone with eons more experience than him.

"YOU CAN DO ALGEBRA?" Zapdos was shocked "WOW, THEN THAT MAKES YOU SMARTER THAN US BY DEFAULT. I CAN'T EVEN ADD 2+2."

"Isn't it ten?" wondered his wife.

"Should be… I think…" Magtres was unsure. Trueman then had an idea, albeit a crazy one at that. He remembered that he still was carrying the three golden armor pieces, three mind controlling armor pieces.

"Are you crazy!?" Frigiduno gasped "You'd go mad with power!"

"No, I won't." Trueman said. There was one part of his power that he forgot to tell Kairi: that even he wasn't immune to his own words, not immune to his own truth. And by saying he wouldn't go mad with power, he was now resistant to the armor's maddening effects.

He place on the two gloves and the mail. Clad in golden armor save the helmet, he began using its power "Stunfisk… do as I say!"

And for the first time the fish stopped wildly firing thunderbolts. Kairi and Ruby looked up, surprised to see Trueman in the golden armor, but even more shocked to see the evil stunfisk was standing completely still, sweating profusely. Edward yelled, and fought back with his own golden armor piece. With the golden armor divided between them, their effects cancelled each other out while making the stunfisk freeze due to confusion of order following.

And this made it the perfect time to strike.

"This is it, the final blow!" yelled the brown haired ranger. Using her Styler she drew a symbol in the air, an intricate design right above the still pause stunfisk. With the last bit of her power and will, she yelled

"OCTAGONAL ALCATRAZ!"

The design slammed into the stunfisk, completely overwhelming it with good thoughts. However the stunfisk was pure evil incarnate- Kairi's peaceful ideals could not be comprehended by it yet it was force fed the idea of not hurting anyone. Unable to deal with the stress, its brain exploded.

Brain juice went everywhere around it.

"…what… the…" Kairi was horrified and disgusted.

"It is because evil cannot comprehend good." Magtres said wisely, "Fear not Kairi, you did the right thing.

"No! My stunfisk! How!?" Edward screamed.

"That's… right!" Kairi was feeling the exhaustion now "Now… Ed… surrender your golden armor piece and destroy the power source of this fortress!"

"What!?"

"OH FOR THE LOVE OF-" luckily Kairi could use her awesome super Styler powers to write cursive in the air. Edward read it, and widened his eyes

"There's a power source to this thing?" were the first words out of his mouth.

It was then that the three legendary birds realized something. During their last advent with the Sky Fortress, they remembered the power orb had been destroyed. Edward looked carefully at the power monitor- even though 30 minutes had long passed, the screen showed that the cannon could not be fired.

"Wait… then if there is no power source…" began Magtres

"THEN… DOESN'T THAT MEAN THIS THING IS ON RESERVE ENERGY…?"

And then the light flickered out. The Sky Fortress started to fall.

"YOU MEAN YOU NEVER CHECKED TO SEE IF THERE WAS A POWER ORB!?" Kairi yelled, both scared and enraged "YOU! ARE! DORKS!"

"What?"

"AARRRRGGGHHH!"

Their fall slowly increased in velocity. Time was running out, even if Oblivia was saved their own lives were still in danger. Their rapid descent would collide with the water, and either drown them or kill them upon crashing from 2,000 feet in the sky.

"You guys have been here before!" even though Kairi was injured, she could still use her head "Where is the power source normally located?!"

"Um, in room, right there!" Frigiduno said hurriedly, pointing to a blank slab in the middle of the room. There was a clear indent meant for an orb "Yes, that's it! The golden armor can power the fortress!"

"Trueman!" Kairi yelled. The boy was already on it, feeding the indent his energy from the golden armor. The falling structure began to slow down, but they were already at terminal velocity and it was not enough. They needed more power, something else to feed the fortress, anything.

The girl was running out of options and distance to the ground. Outside, Rand and the others witnessed the collapse of the fortress, Kairi and several hundred Steelhead were still inside, and once the fortress hit the water…

"Come on Kairi… come on…!" Nema held her parents tighter.

The situation was bleak. Kairi's Styler energy was rejected by the system, and Ruby was too drained to use her own powers, try as she might. Ruby strained herself, trying to put every last ounce of EP into the indent. Trueman collapsed from using the armor's powers too much, and Ruby was sobbing, with pain and fear.

"Something… anything…!" pleaded Kairi desperately. In her own awkward stumbling, she knocked over Edwards's personal desk. The drawers fell out, and in them, two small statues.

Hope.

"Oh yeah, those ones didn't have any seals on them so…" Edward noted. Kairi immediately grabbed them, in one desperate plea: "I am the pure hearted one! Release yourselves!"

Two beams of light shot from the statues. From the small rocky structures, two legendary bird spirits were released: A purple streamline psychic dragon, and his twin orange colored sister. Latiom, and Latiis.

"You two…" Frigiduno smiled "Finally… we're all together again."

"Yeah." smiled Latiom. He and his twin bowed to Kairi "We were Latiom and Latiis, the greatest seals masters of the 16th century! What can we do for you, o pure hearted one?"

"The Sky Fortress is defeated. But now… now we're falling through the sky. How do we stop it?" The beaten Kairi asked. Without the power source, they would have to find a new way to activate the fortress' thrusters. The two stared at each other, an idea.

"There is one thing…" Latiis eyed the three spirit birds "A de summoning seal."

"She's right." Latiom agreed, "We are dead, but exist on borrowed power, keeping our souls trapped in the mortal plane. If we release the seals that bind us… the amount of energy released by our souls escaping to the afterlife, as well as the remainder of the energy we haven't used… it could power the Sky Fortress."

Kairi looked at them, dumbfounded "But… but that would mean…!"

"We're already dead, sweetheart." Frigiduno looked at her fondly "Our time has long passed."

"SHE'S RIGHT." smiled Elecdos, "WE'VE KEPT OURSELVES FROM DYING FOR OVER 600 YEARS… IT'S TIME."

A tear went passed Kari's cheek. Magtres perched next to her, as did the other three "It's okay, Kairi. We're ready."

"Yeah. Keep justice alive when we're gone."

"YOU NEVER EVEN REMOTELY LOOKED THE PART," said Elecdos, "BUT YOU MADE A PRETTY DAMN GOOD PURE HEARTED ONE."

They embraced their human companion, finally unconscious from her wounds. "Do it."

"…See you all on the other side then" said the purple and orange legendarys. Their bodies, as well as the bodies of the three weather birds began crackling, lines of energy forming around their bodies. Edward looked in awe at the sight, even feeling a bit of remorse for his actions.

The birds were dispelled. A surge of energy was released, immediately drained by the indent in the center of the complex. The system controls became online once again. Edward peered into the screen, seeing options ranging from firing the cannon to blasting off into space

"Why did I want to take over the world…?" he activated the reverse thruster's sequence, telling it to slow them down to land safely. The controls responded, and the massive fortress began falling more slowly. Their speed decreased, decreased… until finally, and at last, the fortress touched down on the ocean with a gentle splash.

Oblivia's crisis was officially averted. The pure hearted one had succeeded, with a little unexpected help.

* * *

><p>In the aftermath that followed, the rest of Oblivia's police force and rangers did a raid on the sky fortress. The several steelhead still on board were arrested, charged for assisted attempted murder.<p>

Edward, surprisingly enough, managed to convince the authorities that he had used the golden armor's powers to mind control his friends, hence why they were so keen on helping him. As much as Arley, Kasa and Hocus protested, the rangers detected evidence of mind wipe and the case was closed. Edward never resisted his capture and arrest. Kairi was declared a hero, but was so out of it she could hardly celebrate. She, Ruby and Trueman were given immediate medical attention.

Since the Sky Fortress' power source had been destroyed 600 years earlier, there was no longer any danger of this occurring ever again. Just to be on the safe side though, the rangers and their partner Pokémon destroyed its central controls.

There was however, once mystery that remained unsolved. When Trueman collapsed, the golden armor pieces came off of him. They should have been lying next to him, but when the authorities arrived on the scene, there was no armor to be found. The main suspect was Edward, but he insisted he no longer wanted anything to do with it. In the end, it was reported that the golden armor must have drifted into the sea, never to be heard from again.

* * *

><p>A knock on the door.<p>

"Who is it?" yawned Blake Hall irritably, tired of the constant press.

Three people came into the room. One was a tall burly man dressed in yellow, another was a skinny, shorter man dressed in blue. The last was a woman in red with a ponytail.

"The Miniremo's work really well." said the blue man, "You can give such specific commands to the Pokémon you control, for instance…"

Something clanked on Blake Hall's desk. Golden armor.

"…getting some psychic types to teleport pieces of armor despite being far away." Grinned the blue haired man.

Blake Hall grinned widely.

"Good work… Sinistrio. Our counterattack to retrieve the shadow crystals begins…

…now."


	22. Shadows and Light

Chapter fifty eight: Shadows and Light

* * *

><p>The date was August fourth.<p>

Akumori began flying to Almia.

* * *

><p>Darkrai slammed the doors to where his sister and Latios were kept. Cresselia was supposed to be modifying the seal, but had instead taken up interest in snogging the blue bird. The pink swan almost yelled angrily at him, but Darkrai got the first word in-<p>

"She did it!" a grin was plastered on his face, "We just got a report from this one chick- Kairi saved Oblivia all by herself! She even took down a freaking giant forretress to do it!"

Cresselia and Latios blinked, forgetting their anger "She… she did!? That's great!"

"Yep!" Darkrai said happily, "Which means we have to take care of things in Almia. We do that… and it's straight to the Legendary ranks! So stop kissing Latios and get back to work!"

Darkrai exited. He was about to tell Malispite and Mercifond the good news, when suddenly he stopped, realizing what it was he just said. The prince of darkness ran back in to see another brief make out session "Wait a minute… you…

you're… you're kissing… Latios…?" stammered the prince of darkness.

Cresselia looked at him, annoyed "Is there a problem with whom I choose to be my boyfriend?"

Darkrai remained silent. He looked over at Latios, and then promptly vanished. This was bad. This was incredibly, irrevocably bad.

_"The fric?" Darkrai gasped, "You're in love with my SISTER?"_

Very, very bad indeed. Darkrai knew he wouldn't take this well at all, it would be up to him in order to fix this mess. But how? Darkrai knew nothing about love, so how was he supposed to…?

* * *

><p>Precisely one hour later, it was finally time. Gardevoir and Darkrai watched from the sidelines. Cresselia stood in the center of the room, meditating while her new boyfriend carefully maneuvered the sick beds in a certain fashion around her. Ho-oh flapped in as well, observing from afar since he was too big to enter the room.<p>

Malispite, Mercifond, Gallade, Gliscor, Mewtwo, Deoxys. These six had been greatly injured during the fight with Xeno and Absolix. Natural healing would have taken 2 months to complete, but Cresselia intended to break that rule.

"Here we go." Cresselia activated the last of her seals, releasing the stored energy she had been gathering for the past four days. It was immediately far too much for her to take, but she rerouted it to more seals, allowing the power to flow into her as needed instead of all at once. When green markings appeared in the air above her compatriots, she began.

"Moonlight!"

For all the hype Darkrai had been experiencing, the result wasn't very flashy. Cresselia summoned six moons, which shot down six beams of healing power at her friends. The gentle moonlight invigorated her friends, and the injuries they experienced faded away to nothing in seconds.

When this was done, they stood back up on their own power, smashing their casts as celebration. Darkrai and Gardevoir smiled, the latter hugging everyone and the former quietly observing from a distance.

"Finally, we're healed…!" Malispite could feel his energy coming back to him "And so finally… after putting this off for so long…  
>YOU!"<p>

"YOU!"

Immediately and without warning, Darkrai and Malispite shot towards each other and punched themselves in the face. The blows blew them back on opposite sides of the walls.

"WHY THE CRAP!" Cresselia raged.

"We hate each other." said Darkrai calmly.

"How do you not know that by now?" Malispite nodded. The crescent moon swan began ranting to herself incorrigible curses.

"So, I'd better get back to Victini." Darkrai began speaking "After all, I was supposed to meet him in that shadow crystal cave until I somehow wound back here…"

"We have the exact same problem!" smiled the three Muskadeers. Darkrai remained silent.

"Um, you don't have to…" Gardevoir began speaking but was interrupted by Cresselia "Let it go little brother, I'm sure Victini won't be worried about you."

"Alright fine." said Darkrai, leaning against a wall adding "And don't call me 'little brother'."

As expected of the situation, celebration was in order. Luckily for all of them, Meloetta had made a delicious looking 'getting well again' cake for the occasion. Colored blue and white it looked absolutely scrumptious. The six formerly injured Pokémon immediately helped themselves. Gardevoir snuck up on Darkrai and got him to give her a nightmare.

As she was screaming from the imaginary demons, Gallade nearly swallowed his fork on how backwards the situation was. He walked over to Darkrai and demanded to know what was going on. His response was that Gardevoir had decided to become immune to Darkrai's nightmares, and exposing herself to many of them might make her buildup said immunity.  
>"You mean she actually wanted to test that?" laughed Mewtwo "I must give her credit, she is more insane than I originally suspected!"<p>

"No she isn't!" Darkrai became defensive, "She just wants to be next to me her entire life is all!"

A pause. Mewtwo laughed, while Darkrai turned red "NOT LIKE THAT GET YOR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER!"

"Why so angry? You'd make a good couple."

"NO!" Darkrai gritted his teeth, "She and GALLADE are supposed to be together! Duh!"

Gallade, who had been listening the entire time, took interest in this remark. It had become incredibly obvious that he and Gardevoir had become much closer ever since the incident with Kurades and Asmodeus. Gallade would have suspected foul play, but Darkrai never seemed to acknowledge that there might be something between them other than friendship.

Then again, he knew well that Darkrai really sucked at knowing his own feelings. Regardless, Gallade had something to say to him and now seemed to be the perfect time to do it, while Mewtwo left to avoid Deoxys.

"Darkrai." Gallade came up to him, "Remember that promise you made me make?"

The prince of darkness remembered, he made Gallade swear to protect Gardevoir from her own demons, while he would protect her from a distance "Yeah? What about it…?"

"I just wanted to tell you that I do not intend to honor it. Do it yourself." smiled the fighting psychic. Darkrai was about to protest, but no words came out for a little while "Do you honestly think… that I, the guy who has to stand an entire meter away from you, else you be infected with a nightmare, ME… can honestly comfort her when she gets down?"

"Yes." said Gallade, "Because I can't always be there for her too. We'll trade off roles every now and then."

Darkrai was surprised "…you know, I'm surprised you'd let me do something like that with your future mate."

"Well, the future is still unknown isn't it?" Gallade smiled.

"What, you kidding? You two make a great couple!" Darkrai smiled, tapping his shoulder lightly, "So go get her, I'll be rooting for you!"

Gallade said nothing, smiling and turning away _'He really does suck at sorting out his own feelings.'_. With that, he gave a farewell to Darkrai, telling her to chat up Gardevoir before Darkrai had to leave again. This surprised the prince of darkness.

_'Come to think of it, Gallade hasn't been advancing as much on Gardevoir recently…'_ thought Darkrai _'I wonder why? does he know something I don't…?'_

At that moment Gardevoir walked next to him "Hey Darkrai so… how's training been?"

Darkrai blinked, still trying to figure out this odd situation "Well um… Victini says I should make my own signature move, so I'm working on that."

"I thought Dark Void was your signature move?" questioned his friend.

"No, sadly that was already invented by… *sigh*…Asmodeus…" he frowned.

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE INSIDE DARKRAI'S MIND<strong>

Asmodeus: "Damn v****ing straight. He's useless as crap."

* * *

><p>"So… what did you have in mind?"<p>

"Classified!" Darkrai crossed his arms, "I can't say until I actually make it! All you need to know is that it will be my greatest attack ever that will totally kick Absolix's ass!"

Gardevoir smiled nervously at the mention of Absolix "I, I see, but why can't you just tell me now? Why wait?"

"To build up hype." grinned Darkrai like a troll to the readers.

At the other end of the room, Deoxys was also trying to flirt with Mewtwo. Unfortunately, the purple psychic seemed to be avoiding her at each and every instance. Soon, the two were playing a game of cat and mouse, in which Mewtwo sought to avoid Deoxys by using advanced Shmalculus and mind reading while Deoxys tried to catch Mewtwo via counter mind reading and cloning herself for increased odds.

Noting the show, Malispite muttered "What are they doing?"

"Flirting." shrugged Mercifond as Deoxys teleported out of sight. Malispite sighed, taking another bite of cake. How was that even flirting? Not that he even cared, after all who needed something like love when-

"M-Malispite?"

He froze, trying to remain absolutely still in hopes that her vision was based off of motion.

"Did you maybe enjoy the cake…?" asked Meloetta sweetly.

It wasn't. This meant he was forced to talk to her. Normally talking to women was hardly a problem, but for some mysterious reason that he preferred not to think about he had trouble with this one. Why was she talking to him anyway!? It would never work out, she was a freaking princess and he never even had parents! Not to mention that height factor considering she was two feet tall while he was at least eight-

"What's wrong with him?" Meloetta asked. Her brown bat friend was cross eyed, standing completely still. His sister shrugged, saying he was having an inner monologue with himself.

"He does that when he gets confused."

"Oh…" Meloetta paused "I wonder what he's thinking about?"

And so, the party went on like this. Gliscor and Darkrai talked up a storm with each other, apparently about something important. Mewtwo and Deoxys played their little game, Ho-oh and the three legendary beasts discussed the Almia mission.

Cresselia and Latios held each other's company for some time, occasionally with a quick kiss. At one point, they officially announced their couple status to the group, earning congratulations from everyone except Darkrai, for some odd reason…

Malispite had his inner monologue for a good fifteen minutes before replying that he thought the cake was good. By this time, Meloetta and his sister were gone.

"Fricken…" Malispite flew over to Darkrai and Gliscor, conversing with them.

Eventually, the party was interrupted. Ho-oh, who had been outside the entire time, noting something amiss in the air. He gazed upwards, and allowed his EP to flood the air to better sense what was happening.

"What is that!?" Ho-oh suddenly shouted. Grabbing the attention of everyone present, the great phoenix started sweating, wide eyed and agape "Mewtwo, tell me I'm imagining this!" he shouted frantically. The psycat turned his own gaze upwards. When he did, fear was on his face too.

"You aren't imagining it…!" he whispered, instinctively raising his own power level.

"What, what is it!?" Cresselia asked. Ho-oh grimaced, experiencing absolute fear.

"Something is coming this direction… and it has a power level bigger than anything I've ever sensed!"

"It's something on Arceus' caliber!" Mewtwo added. But who was it? Who on earth could have a 900,000 power level, even greater than Absolix's!? The entire party had become tense, the two official legendarys agonizingly waiting, wondering who this could be.

And finally, in mere seconds, it was there. It flew so fast and silent that no one even saw him land. He slowly stood up, and cross his arms. Ho-oh and Mewtwo instantly recognized the dark flying creature.

It was Akumori.

"Ho-oh. Mewtwo." he nodded to them, striding past without so much a glance. The two legendarys knew they couldn't do a thing to this man. Even with the might of Team Nova, present in the balcony, Akumori would be untouchable. This was a man so dangerous that a flee on sight order was given to anyone who even thought they saw him. However the reality of that law was to calm down the citizens, in reality if Akumori wanted to kill you, you were dead no matter what.

"Malispite and Mercifond." the dark brown bat spoke, "Come with me. Now."

It was at this did they note the striking resemblance between the dreaded Akumori and the twins. Malispite in particular bared strong similarities. The twins themselves were scared out of their wits, but appearing tough nonetheless.

"Wh-what do you want with them?" Ho-oh dared ask. Akumori glanced in the phoenix's direction "None of your business." And that was the end of it.

"Like hell we'd go with you! Don't forget you stalled us in the desert!" Malispite remembered the man.

"You will." Akumori remained stoic "Either you come peacefully with me, or I break every bone in your body and drag you. Choose."

There was no doubt the man could do it without so much as lifting a finger. Mewtwo telepathically urged the two to go with him, hopefully Akumori didn't want them dead or something. He explained that as he was, he didn't stand a chance against him.

"Well?" asked the class Five, "Easy way or hard way?"

The twins glanced at each other, what did he want with them? Did they have a real choice, being forced to go with him? Yet they could sense his power level, and they could sense how much of it he was holding back. They would need someone like Arceus to face a monster such as this.

And then Darkrai punched Akumori in the face as hard as he could.

"LIKE HELL WE'D GIVE YOU TO THEM!" he yelled as the darkness surged past his body and into Akumori. While the rest of them were shocked beyond belief, the class Five was unfazed. He hadn't even bothered to dodge, just taking the blow full face value. Darkrai leapt back, not a scratch on him.

Akumori simply raised an eyebrow, wondering how Darkrai thought that would do anything "As I was saying…"

But to the surprise of everyone, Darkrai attacked again, throwing a flurry of punches, Shadow Balls and Ice Beams as fast and hard as he could at the brown bat. The smoke cleared, and Akumori hadn't budged an inch.

"What are you doing!?" Malispite questioned "Can't you see how strong he is! You'll get killed!"

And indeed, the thought had crossed Akumori's mind. Darkrai remained unaltered, turning to Malispite "What, so you think just because he's stronger than us, that means he'll win?"

The prince of darkness turned back to the monstrous being "Screw power levels. I'll find a way to beat him with or without help."

It was at this did the capped bat lower his head. He recognized those words, they were the very words that Asmodeus had said. They were famous in that he said them before defeating Absolix, earning him his first and only loss.

"I don't care who the hell you think you are." Darkrai said "Malispite is my hated enemy, and I won't let you take him away. End of story."

The brown bat behind him grinned "Spoken like a true skirt wearing goth…" he flew up to Darkrai, landing next to him "Let's kill this guy."

"Agreed." Darkrai grinned back. The rest of Calestia began to mobilize, and even Mewtwo and Ho-oh were moved. They surrounded Akumori, preparing to strike. The giant bat gazed into Darkrai's eyes, which stared back unflinchingly.

"I see." Akumori quietly said "I respect that. But…"

In an instant, everyone was knocked out. Akumori released the full brunt of his EPressure, and the density of it was great it made the bottom of the ocean look puny by comparison. His energy surged like a torrent at the bottom of a trench, utterly crushing their own until it made them black out from the pain.

"…your rage is misplaced." Akumori finished. He walked over to the unconscious Malispite and Mercifond, picking them both up in each arm "I won't hurt them. They'll be back by midnight."

He flew away faster than a supersonic jet.

* * *

><p>When everyone finally regained consciousness, there was panic at first. A few of them had heard Akumori's last words, but this hardly quelled their worry.<p>

Well, most of them.

"Well if he said he'd bring them back then there's no sweating it." shrugged Darkrai.

"Brother you can't just randomly trust total strangers!" Cresselia begged to differ. However, her brother had said that during the time has was unconscious, sleeping and visiting dreams, Giga came to him and said Akumori was a really nice guy.

"So that makes it okay."

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU!?" screamed everyone else. Darkrai shrugged; a dude with two souls, one of them was a dick, not to mention he could invade the dreams of a 10,000+ year old being, give nightmares on contact and wanted to take down the most powerful being to have ever existed.

They stood corrected.

"Well my dear, I'm afraid there is literally nothing we can do." said Dusknoir of Team Nova "We have no way to track down Akumori, no way to bring them back, and moreover…" he suddenly became silent "If I am correct… then it's incredibly important for them to be with Akumori."

"…What do you mean?" Gliscor asked. Dusknoir drifted his eyes back to Dunsparce, who merely nodded his head. The ghost type turned back to the members of Calestia

"We, Dunsparce and I, have an idea of who Malispite and Mercifond really are…"

* * *

><p>A heavy headache was the first thing Malispite felt when he began to stir. He could remember everything quickly enough- Akumori, the jerk who blocked them back in Destiny's desert had returned and had come for them. He remembered performing a counterattack with Darkrai, but then Akumori made them all faint just by raising his power level to the max.<p>

Shit.

It wasn't even fair how strong this guy was.

Malispite took a careful peek at his surroundings. They were in a somewhat barren landscape, but there were some trees and bushes to be found. He saw Akumori, sitting next to a somewhat large stone and staring at it intently. Then, he found Mercifond.

She was next to him, not awake yet. Luckily he was right next to her so he managed to nudge her without their capturer noticing. This caused just enough disturbance to awaken her. In an instant she understood the situation, and lay low as her brother had done. Wordlessly, they motioned with their eyes a path of escape.

"Awake finally." said the deep voice of Akumori. This shocked both the bats, who tried to remain still "Don't try to pretend you can't hear me. I can sense your rise in power level."

Malispite internally cursed, of course he should have kept his power level down. He eyed his sister, who nodded- no choice now. The twins stood up, angrily eyeing their capturer. Akumori merely returned their fierce gaze with a stoic glance, then turned his attention back to the grave.

"Come." he said to them. Once again, seeing as how they had no choice, the two bats hesitantly walked over to the tall man.

"What do you want with us?" Mercifond asked immediately.

"I want you to pay your respects." Akumori replied, nudging to the stone in front of him. The stone as it turned out, was flat in the direction Akumori was facing. Moreover, it had the words _"Angelori, 1830- 1862_ written upon it. It was a strange gravestone, but Malispite failed to realize the significance of it.

"Angelori…?" his sister questioned.

"What is this about? Stop being all emo and just tell us already!" Malispite demanded impatiently. Akumori sighed and answered Malispite with four simple, yet profound words:

"This is your mother."

In an instant, all rage was forgotten. It was replaced by confusion. By joy. By other emotions unknown to either of them "What… did you… just…"

"This is your mother's grave." clarified the demon bat, "And today is the day she died. Pay your respects. She birthed you two after all."

"How can… how can that be…?" Mercifond was as wide eyed as her brother "We don't… we don't have any parents…right?"

Akumori sighed, and that was the end of the conversation. They had parents. They had parents… after nearly eighteen years of being orphans, they had found one parent, their deceased mother. It was the strangest thing they had ever felt. It almost felt like closure, were it not for the fact their mother's remains lay in front of them.

"My… mom…" Malispite had a hard time saying those words, the first time he had ever did so "Mom…"

"W-Wait a minute!" Mercifond saw something amiss, "The date! This grave was made in the 1860's, that's nearly 200 years ago! How could-"

"She did it to save you." Akumori said softly, a rare moment "Let me tell you a story.

Once upon a time there was an evil man named Absolix Michael Solaris. Because he's the most insane and cruel Pokémon on the planet… he decided to kill your mother for some indiscernible reason.

I tried to stop him of course. I tried. He wiped the floor with me, and headed straight to Angelori, who had just birthed a set of twins and named them. That'd be you two.

When Absolix came, he asked for her life. I don't know what happened… but I guess Angelori begged him to leave her two children alone. Absolix… he said the kids had to die as well.

Angelori fought her hardest, but fared even worse than me. At the very last second, she used her own death as a catalyst to send you two to the future with some time seals. Or… so she hoped. Time seals are tricky. There was only a fifty percent chance you'd survive, and another fifty that said you'd automatically die. And even if you did survive, no one could know how far she sent you…"

At this, Malispite and Mercifond remembered the first time they met Absolix- _"I don't believe it! You two survived after all! And I thought it wouldn't work!"_

And again with the suspicious behavior of Dusknoir and Dunsparce. Even Kurades was in on it. Suddenly it all made sense, except for one important detail.

"That's it. Any questions?" finished the aged brown bat.

"Why did… why didn't anyone tell us…!?" Mercifond was astounded, confused and angry at the same time "Why didn't they…!?"

"Well," Akumori sighed, "because of your father, I'd say. If anyone knew who you two were, they'd know who your father was. And he's a dangerous man, so I suspect no one told you to protect you from his history."

And suddenly, everything began to click, for the both of them. Akumori and Malispite's similar demeanors. They markings, the time travel, the gravestone in front of them. It all led to one logical conclusion. One horrifying certainty.

"Don't tell me…" Malispite was wide eyed. Akumori stood up. He stared at the both of them fully.

"Yeah, that's right. I'm your father."

It was almost too crazy to be true. Almost. The facts didn't lie, and everything he said added up. But to have one of the world's greatest criminals, Akumori the 'War Demon' as a father…

"It must be fate that we met up like this." Akumori lifted the snarl for a brief moment of compassion "I… just happened to time travel when Celebi told me to. Warp to when Absolix was revived. I never expected to arrive in the same time period as you…"

"So… after all this time then… what do you want with us?" Malispite growled. The war demon glanced at his son, expression unreadable.

"Just wanted to tell you where you came from." Akumori replied "I've been a crappy father, so I don't expect a hug or anything. Just figured you'd better know is all."

Malispite was silent, facing this strange older man who bared resemblance to him and called him son. A thousand thoughts raced through his head, what should he say? What should he even feel? Angry? Sad? Happy!? His feelings were mixed, and he hadn't an answer.

"If Absolix killed our mother… then why are you siding with him?" the white bat finally asked. This got Malispite's attention. Why indeed, did one man whose wife was taken side with the man who had done it? Akumori faced them both again, a serious and ferocious look in his eye. It was here that the twins felt fear.

"Because I'm going to kill him." he said simply, malice behind his words "After years of training in the past, I've finally reached a level to where I can take out Absolix. So when Celebi came and asked me to join up, I couldn't resist…"

Akumori shook his head "But it wasn't enough. I might have a higher power level, but Absolix is… well, he's Absolix. I can't kill him now, I need to wait for the right moment."

So that was the truth: an assassination plot against the one who killed their mother. He seemed extremely serious about it "I won't ask you to join me in Neo-Genesis. Too risky. Stick with Arceus."

"Is… is it right?"

There was a pause from both Akumori and Malispite. Just when Malispite seemed to be sympathizing with his father, Mercifond asked the necessary question.

"He killed your mother. Of course it is."

"That's not what I'm saying…" the white bat lowered her gaze "I mean, sure I never even knew her, and Absolix should be punished for what he's done against us, against everyone… but I'm asking: do you need to go as far as revenge?"

Suddenly, Malispite knew was his sister was implying. As Dusknoir and several other authorities pointed out, revenge was not a good way to go about your life. You became consumed by it, the hatred took up every fiber of your being. And even worse, should you be successful in it, there would be nothing left afterwards. Just emptiness, and the victims following this pattern seemed to fill the void by taking on a new target.

Because at that point, revenge was all that they knew.

Now Malispite understood why he felt such a horrid aura from his father. He could sense the hatred inside of him. And worse, he could feel it slowly consuming Akumori. His sister could probably feel the same thing- they had to get their father off of this path. Absolix would still pay for what he had done- but not this way.

"I think she has a point." eyes were on Malispite now, who was trying to come up with careful words for his mad father to hear "Just killing him outright… wouldn't that make you the same as he is?"

"Do not compare me with that man." spoke Akumori in a low tone.

"W-Well, can't you just stay with us?" Mercifond asked "I mean, just punish him legally and-"

"No." Akumori spoke "My decision is final, I will not spend the ten years training against him for nothing!"

"We aren't saying that." Malispite looked at his father straight in the eyes "We're just saying… come with us. Instead of trying to fix the past, live with us in the future."

There was a silence between the three. Malispite eventually spoke again "I mean… you're our dad you know? I'm sure Arceus would have you on board in no time flat, being a class Five and all. And if you get on our side, the chances of you getting to Absolix would be-"

"No." the tall man turned away, too blinded to see the opportunity in front of him "I'm sorry, but I can't do that. I've given everything for this moment… and it's finally bearing fruition. Soon I WILL have my revenge and then…"

There was a pause in his speech. Malispite and Mercifond's horrors were real: he really had no idea what to do beyond getting revenge. The three were in silence again. Finally,

"Then… maybe I'll destroy Arceus too for raising such a monster…."

He vanished with a gust of wind.

The twins looked into each other's eyes. Wordlessly, they knew that their newfound father had to be stopped. There was still a shred of good in him; someone had to stop him before it was too late, before he did something rash and regretted it.  
>"Sis…"<p>

"I know." Mercifond said, "We… we have a family now, right?" she smiled at her brother "And one of them is in danger."

"So then, let's do it." said Malispite. Before his mother's grave, he and Mercifond swore to bring back their crappy father home, even if it meant breaking every bone in their body to do so.

"We won't lose the last family we have." swore the white bat. Then they too, vanished with a gust of wind. The cold stone grave sat there, undisturbed.

* * *

><p>Calestia stared agape. All of their mouths were wide open, save Deoxys who had no mouth and Mewtwo, who silently confirmed what he had suspected.<p>

"Akumori is… Malispite and Mercifond's father!?" Gliscor finally blurted out.

"Yes. I'm certain of it." said Dusknoir. Master Dunsparce stared- he had known all along ever since Malispite first stepped in his dojo. Dusknoir further explained that it was right for them to know now- undoubtedly Akumori was talking to them about the same thing.

"Naturally you all understand this all is hush-hush right?" said Ariados "By giving you this knowledge, we are trusting that you will keep it to yourselves and not do something stupid like post it as a status update or something."

"Of course not!" Cresselia shouted "Who do you think we are!?"

"The same guys who tried to sell the secret of life on eBay in arc 1." said the spider dryly. There was no further protest.

Once it had settled in exactly what they were dealing with, the members of Calestia could see why no one had mentioned this before. Akumori, being so infamous for his power and the fact that he was on Neo Genesis' side… people were so easily influenced by fear, they might forget that Malispite and Mercifond didn't have to be like their dad.

So for now, yes, it had to remain secret.

"In that case, that brings us back to our primary objective…" Cresselia got the attention of her group "Destroying the shadow crystal. To do it, we need three 'luminous' crystals, and there happen to be three known ones in Almia."

The swan paced herself "One of them in in a place called Almia Castle, an abandoned fortress from the medieval ages. Another is in the Haruba Desert, ironically in the Hippowdon Temple somewhere. The last is in a volcano to the east of this place."

"So what do we do?" Darkrai asked.

"We'll need to split up again to save time. But I don't know how exactly we're going to do that… I'll need to think on group formations. But Darkrai, you have to go guard the shadow crystal! We need you to make sure that Team Dim Spoon doesn't get their grubby hands on it!"

"Yep." said the prince of darkness, "Well, the party was fun, and good cake Meloetta. I'm off!"

Silently, to Gliscor, he gave a serious look, nodding his head. The purple bat nodded back, his message conveyed. Darkrai turned into a shadow and left the premises.

In shadow form he could travel much faster than normal, even with his already great speed. Remembering the route he took from before, he zoomed to the northeast section of Almia. In what would have taking a normal human at running speed six hours to traverse, Darkrai did in thirty minutes.

The entrance of the Chroma Ruins: A simple stairway leading downwards, with an ancient text saying "Do not Enter" in stone next to it. Darkrai entered anyway, he knew what was down there.

Quickly navigating the caverns, he found himself at the lowermost floor. There, a passageway illuminated by glowing crystals lay in front of him. And going through that, he arrived at the final room.

Zero and Victini stood next to each other, apparently talking. The room itself was rather large and illuminated by the glowing blue, green and yellow crystals in it. At the back, atop a pedestal made by humans who were in awe of its power… the shadow crystal itself.

It was huge, twice as tall and wide as Darkrai in a jagged crystalline formation. It was a dark purple color, and glowed by itself in its own eerie light. This crystal, this embodiment of all the negative emotions accumulated over thousands of years was the source of all the problems Almia had. The evil organization seeking to use its power were no longer satisfied with its smaller offshoots- now they wanted the real thing.

"So this is it…" Darkrai could feel himself drawn into it, probably because he was a dark type and had a natural affinity for negativity.

"That's it." Zero said, also in awe of the thing "You heard right? We can't destroy it now- unless we get a luminous crystal this size it'd just release the negativity and cause mass depression."

Darkrai nodded. He could see why Victini wouldn't let him absorb the crystal and be done with it- he could feel the negative emotions stored up inside of this shadow crystal, and it had enormous power. Darkrai doubted he could intake all of it and remain sane and alive.

"Then with that…" Zero grinned. Instantly, he summoned all eight of his Stylers "It's time for our rematch, Darkrai. Within this cavern I've been training my ass off, and I can't stand a mere Pokémon to be stronger than I…"

"Is this really the best time to fight?" Darkrai asked. However, Victini suddenly stepped forth. He told his apprentice that he wanted to see Darkrai win against Zero, the most feared human in the universe.

"They say you beat him but I just can't believe that someone so pathetically weak could lay a scratch on such a power being." shrugged Victini, intentionally trying to irk Darkrai.

"Screw you! Let's do this…!" Darkrai raged, the taunt having worked despite Victini not knowing Taunt somehow. Darkrai summoned some Shadow Balls in his two hands and lunged at Zero, who prepared his dragon and fire Stylers for impact.

Unfortunately we have to cut short here because their fight would take up an entire movie! So it'll have to happen off-screen!

Darkrai: "What!?"

Zero: "Tch. Lame…"

* * *

><p><strong>HUZZAH FOR LAZY WRITING<strong>

Back at the Ranger base in Vientown, the get well party still continued somewhat, but Mewtwo had disappeared somewhere much to Deoxys' chagrin. Cresselia was still coming up with a viable strategy to take the three crystals. All three were in harsh locations, and were probably guarded by someone or something.

Gliscor could probably take the volcanic one, since his species was resistant to heat. But not lava… Malispite and Mercifond would of course want to go together, maybe she could send them to the desert? But the sandstorm was back up, could they navigate through that?

And with Kairi and Darkrai gone they only had five members amongst three crystals. Someone might have to go alone, and that wouldn't be good in case of an emergency…

"Not to worry!" said her mother, right next to her in hologram form "Remember that if anyone gets into trouble, they can always contact me and I'll do something. I've set it so that anyone in your group can contact me with this simple link!"

"Thank you, mom." smiled the pink swan "But I really don't want outside aid if I can help it… I will prove to you that our team is strong on our own."

Arceus smiled, remembering when Cresselia used sleep at night with a giant snorlax doll for security. She had really grown up since then "Very well, in that case I won't give you any ideas. See you tomorrow sweetie, and good luck with Latios~!" she winked.

Arceus vanished, and Cresselia turned a little red at the thought. She actually managed to get a boyfriend, and was loving him.

Elsewhere, in a dark corner…

"S-So um…"

"Yes, my princess?" asked Cobalion. Meloetta had summoned them for some strange reason. Virizion was absent, having gotten lost in the summons. His two brothers would track him down later.

"I-I need some advice…on what guys like…" said the green haired girl nervously.

"Super-fast cars!" grinned Terrakion.

"Explosions!" said Cobalion.

Meloetta paused "No, I mean… you know… what do guys like in a girl?"

"Big ears!" said Terrakion.

"Big tails!" Cobalion added "Why, what would you need to know what for?"

Meloetta could feel her insecurity rise. She had neither big ears nor a big tail. No wonder Malispite acted like he was trying to avoid her, she must look ugly in his eyes…

"No reason…" she said in a depressive manner, "You are dismissed…"

In the meantime, two bats were flying steadily back to Vientown. They had resolve in their minds, and a story to tell when they arrived. Inside the base, a saddened Deoxys tried her best to locate Mewtwo telepathically, calling out for him every now and then.

Mewtwo was far away from everyone. He didn't want to deal with Arceus, and he didn't want to deal with Deoxys. What he needed was a quiet place to think, so he left a note telling them he'd be away for a day or so. In a secluded cavern far from the mainland of Almia, on a deserted island, he meditated in peace. The psycat wondered if he would see Myuu in his dreams again…

Two future lovers sat side by side, chatting away with each other. The topics ranged from the mission itself, to what she would be doing in the meantime.

"I've noticed you seem to be dying your hair yellow." said Gallade "It suits you."

Gardevoir hadn't been dying her hair yellow- nonetheless the end tints of her green hair were of a yellow shade. She didn't know what it was, other than Absolix said it represented her future devotion to him "Thank you." she said.

"…if I may be serious with you." Gallade said, sighing. Gardevoir tensed, wondering what was on his mind "You are one of the most beautiful women I have ever met. I mean it, I really do." The fighting psychic said.

"But… I don't know if I actually love you anymore." said Gallade, unloading his psyche "Gardevoir… what do you feel for me?"

The female psychic smiled, gently lowering her hand on Gallade's "…I'm sorry Gallade… I can't think of you as a mate. But I do believe you're one of my best friends. So please, don't leave me because I don't love you."

Gallade looked at her, a relieved but sad look on his face. He sighed "Even when you reject me you're still just so sweet…"

"I-I'm sorry! I've never actually done this before so-"

"It's okay." Gallade smiled "I need to sort out my feelings for you anyway. And we can still be friends to the end."

"Alright. Thanks." said the relieved psychic.

"Looking at you I can tell…" Gallade was serious again "You're heart always belonged to someone else…"

"I'm not in love with Darkrai!" Gardevoir practically shouted. Her face was a deep red, and she was shaking somewhat, though not from anger. Gallade gave her a blank look "I never specifically said Darkrai-"

"I'm not I'm not I'm not!" she suddenly ran away. Gallade still sat on the bench, a confused expression on his face.

"What was that about?" he wondered.

* * *

><p>"Wonderful. Wonderful." said Victini to himself. His blue eyes were glittering with excitement. He too was shaking, having gotten riled up from the fantastic battle between Darkrai and Zero.<p>

True to his word, Zero had indeed gotten much more powerful. He could now use his dreaded move, the Octagonal Alcatraz anytime he pleased, not to mention the Hyper Beam attack too. In addition he had new techniques that used seven Stylers or less, and could even switch between eight Styler and two Styler method at a whim.

But Darkrai was even more incredible. With his new Apocalypse technique, he could unleash a massive nightmare on command which could destroy Zero in one shot. Furthermore his speed and strength had gotten better, and he was starting to reduce the amount of Moves he could use from 20 to around 10, but utilizing those ten as efficiently as possible.

The two were almost evenly matched, but Darkrai made a crucial error: At the last second, he tried to use the signature move he was inventing, but the dark energy blew up in his face when he tried, defeating himself. Nonetheless, the explosion meant he was close to realizing his attack.

"Hah, now the score is 1-1." Zero stood over Darkrai triumphantly "We'll have one more rematch and I'll beat you, proving once and for all that I am the strongest!"

"No way! You got…" Darkrai cringed from his injuries "You just got lucky! Once I finish my super awesome Absolixkiller Move, you'll be toast!"

"Absolixkiller? The fric?" said Zero "What a lame name for a lame attack…"

"IF I COULD FEEL MY EVERYTHING I WOULD SO-"

"Let it go Darkrai. You did well." said the fire rabbit "You did… very well. I'd say you are definitely a class Three now."

"Really?"

"I would, but you still have a long ways to go plus you're an idiot plus you still lost to Zero plus Absolix obliterated you with 2% of his power so no you're fine being a class Two." Victini smiled poisonously.

"…I hate you… I hate you with all my hate…" Darkrai glared. Nonetheless, Victini gave him some Sitris berries for him to chew on.

"Zero, are you okay with being here in the presence of the crystal?"

"…strangely enough, yes." said Zero. Its maddening effects did not work on him for some reason. But Zero wasn't just going to tell them his secret of why it didn't work, or why his eyes glowed purple when he fought "I don't know why, but it looks like I'm fine."

"Do me a favor will you? Help Darkrai with the mechanics of his signature move. You humans are much smarter than me, so I think you can help in that regard."

"…yeah, okay I can do that." Zero shrugged. Darkrai was silent, but nodded his head, indicating willingness to cooperate. Victini told them he had to go to the bathroom, so he'd be back in a couple hours.

_"Wait, I thought Pokémon didn't need to go to the bathroom?"_ Zero was confused _"What's he really doing I wonder…?"_

Darkrai was up, having restored some of his stamina thanks to the Sitris berries' effect on his body. He and Zero looked at each other, Darkrai even now finding it unnerving about how he resembled his former human trainer…

"…So this is what I have in mind for my move:" Darkrai began.

* * *

><p>Blake Hall sat in his office. It was late at night, and he was making the final preparations for his plan. The Altru Tower™ was nearly completed. To the ignorant masses it represented the willingness to create his Dream Energy™, when in reality its function was much more sinister.<p>

Blake Hall had taken some concepts from previous failed evil schemes: The Goldenrod radio tower takeover ten years ago and the Cipher incident from thirteen. The Altru Tower was actually a giant Gigaremo™, and with a shadow crystal as its source, it could turn anything in Almia into Shadow Pokémon, under his command.

In addition to this he had the Golden Armor as a failsafe. He entrusted three pieces of it to his Sinistrio group, and the last remained on his desk. Blake flipped through his e-mails, each more satisfying than the last.

_Electromagnetic Resonance stabilized. Moving to the grid, then locking to the power._

-Development Team

It was almost done. Blake Hall was giddy with anticipation, and impatient. Just two more days and it would be ready, all he needed to do was figure out how to get that shadow crystal while Zero was still guarding it…

Suddenly, a new email popped up in his inbox. He frowned at the title.

_"Team Up"_

He was about to delete it, not even wanting to read anything from those dorks from the Pokémon Pinchers. He was about to, until he saw who sent it.

"What on earth…?" Blake frowned. He opened it. Placing his hand upon his chin, he started to read the contents of the e-mail. About a minute later he was done. His hands were stroking his beard, in great confusion.

"This is an interesting turn of events…" he wondered to himself "I wonder… what exactly does that man intend to accomplish?"

Blake Hall replied to the mail, then shut off his computer. If the sender was truly serious about what he said, then the shadow crystal was practically his. And after that, the country would be his as well. After that, maybe even the world.

Blake gave one last smile before exiting his office.


	23. Goodbye

Chapter fifty nine: Goodbye

* * *

><p>Gliscor had been silent for the longest time. Even after recovering from the near fatal injuries from Xeno, he had been unusually quiet. No one else seemed to notice this, maybe because over time he had faded from the spotlight.<p>

He had been silent because he had been thinking. Thinking about his life, his past, present, and more importantly, future. He thought about his parents, how they were both employed by a trainer across the globe. He thought about the secret agents, and their incessant whining for him to officially join them.

He thought about Darkrai, his best friend, the man who had seen him through the good and bad. Arceus, the current God, her quest for peace that proved to be failing at every turn. Kurades, the man who offered him another chance. Who offered him power, security, and even his love.

He thought about Cresselia.

Gliscor had thought about Cresselia a lot recently. After the second battle with Absolix, he had realized to his own dismay that he had feelings for her. For her, who was in love with Latios.

He really wished Latios was a jerk. That way it would be possible to hate him. But he couldn't. Latios was a good man, and he treated Cresselia with the utmost respect. And it still broke his heart to see him do that.

The only Pokémon who knew was Darkrai, the only one whom Gliscor trusted all of his secrets with. Darkrai had agreed to help him from the shadows, but apparently his plans had backfired. Not that he could be blamed; Gliscor was a coward at heart. He didn't care about saving the world, or Absolix, or any of that. All he wanted was to go back to school, go back to the normal life. He didn't care that he wasn't extraordinary.

But she was. She was in an entirely different plane of existence, like Darkrai, Malispite, and his other friends from Calestia. He, who gazed upon her and wished that for once he could be her equal… but no. Gliscor had tried to be like them, tried going against every principle he had to bring himself into danger in hopes she might see him.

But she never did. Not in the way he wanted to, anyway. Once again, he was to blame; the bat had never once told her how he felt.

All and all, he was a coward. Worse, he was a coward who faced choices he shouldn't ever have to face. A part of him told him to just walk and leave them for home. They would understand, him slowing them down and all. Another said to join Kurades. And another said to stick with Cresselia, and keep hoping.

But hope was lost. The third option could not be taken.

And so, Gliscor sat on the edge of Vientown's forest lake pondering what to do. What should he do? Should he even do anything?

He sat there next to the moon illuminated pond for the longest time. In the dead of night where everyone was asleep, he looked at his life for the umpteenth day. He wished he were a Seer, then he would know the future and proper course to take. But no, he was ordinary.

This night was different from the other nights he had spent thinking. Because it was on this night did he finally make a decision.

Gliscor finally knew what to do with his meager life.

* * *

><p>The morning came quietly enough, sun peeking through the cracks in the windows and all. The humans, Crawford, Elaine, Ollie and Luana began their morning ranger preparations, getting in contact with the Union and delivering the morning papers.<p>

The Pokémon also began to wake up. Rising from their slumber, they knew this was a great day indeed. Today, Calestia would begin its mission to restore balance to Almia. To do that, they would need to seek three luminous crystals, and use them to destroy the fabled shadow crystal.

Then, Team Dim Sun would have lost its trump card, and the rest would be easy.

But getting to the gems themselves would be tricky. Each was in a separate harsh terrain, and there was evidence that they were guarded by some mysterious force. And, there could be complications during the missions.

Such as, when Calestia awoke, they found that Malispite had gone away.

Apparently the three Muskadeers had gotten lost again, and Dusknoir asked if Malispite would come with him to find them, and he accepted.

"Great, just what we need at an important time…" said Cresselia, angry "…And what about Kairi?" demanded the pink swan "Where is she? Hasn't she saved Oblivia yet?"

"Cut her some slack, she can't heal herself very well being a human and all." Gliscor spoke up for her.

"True…" Cresselia murmured "Still, you'd think that the humans would come up with an instant recovery device or something…"

"But they haven't, which leaves us stuck with five members." Mercifond said "Not that I think it will take all of us to get three measly gems."

"It will." Cresselia said ominously "I'm postponing the mission until Malispite returns."

"What?" the green haired Gardevoir blinked "Why do you have so little faith in us?"

"It isn't that…" Cresselia paced herself, thinking "It's just that… I think this arc is starting to end… and you all know what that means.

Specials. And every time we go into one of those, unless we have full force we can't defeat the evil of the special!"

"I-Is that so?" asked Gardevoir, uncomfortable with breaking the fourth wall.

**YEP, PRETTY MUCH. WANT ME TO GIVE YOU THE AWESOME HYPE-BUILDING CATCHPHRASE?**

"No thank you, Narrator." said the pink swan.

**_THIS FALL…_**

**_THERE IS DARKNESS IN EVERYONE…_**

A pause.

**I DIDN'T LIKE IT EITHER. MEANWHILE WITH DARKRAI!**

Gallade: "Wait you can't just transition to Darkrai without-

* * *

><p>The prince of darkness lay on the ground, breathing heavily. Victini suddenly popped out of nowhere, wondering if Darkrai had completed his training.<p>

"Yeah…" he heaved in "I… fired off a hundred Dark Pulses at a dummy and then battled Zero again… dudes improving…"

"I am, aren't I?" Zero complimented himself.

Ignoring Zero's ego, Victini hopped over "Well, since you've gotten tired from only doing all of that, I suppose I'll have to give you a more gentle exercise now so that you don't cry like a little baby."

"…what, I can't get a FREAKING PAT ON THE BACK FOR DEFEATING THE WORLDS MOST FEARED HUMAN!? TWICE!?"

"What are you kidding?" Victini laughed "You think you can take on Absolix with that? You'd die in five seconds. This way I can at least make you last ten before being sent to an early grave…"

Darkrai mumbled under his breath as Victini explained the next exercise: Meditation. Darkrai would sit still and reflect on the proper mental state that he needed in order to achieve his still incomplete signature move.

"Zero will be in the room for a while. If he starts to moan loudly and get nightmares, then you're probably on the right track! Later, I have to prepare."

"Prepare for what?" Darkrai blared "You keep disappearing without any explanation! What the heck are you doing!?"

"I need to make a proper coffin for when you die."

"AAARRRRRGGGGHHH!"

Darkrai's yelling was in vain, Victini was gone. Mumbling to himself, he slowly hoisted himself up into a sitting position. Well, a sitting position without legs. Darkrai tried to meditate in peace, but found that he couldn't because he was too angry. He tried to forget all of the hurtful things Victini had said, but they all kept coming back to him. Why was he even here again? He didn't need to be treated like a five year old!

"You'll never achieve nirvana with that attitude." remarked the ever sarcastic Zero Mitsurashi. Darkrai opened one eye, mumbled, and went back to trying to find the right mental state.

"…you look like you're having trouble, so I'll give you some information on Victini that might cheer you up." said the blonde haired human through his Styler. Darkrai's eye was open "Oh yeah? What?"

"He's very old fashioned." stated Zero simply.

"Yeah, that helped me forget his jerkass tendencies. Thanks." said the prince of darkness sarcastically.

"You don't get it, do you?" sighed Zero "In martial arts back in the old days, there was a prevalent view among the masters: That you should never once compliment your disciple."

Darkrai was paying attention now. Zero grinned "Yeah, apparently they thought that as long as you never once told them that they did something right, they'd strive to get better at it, being driven to impress the masters. Or get so mad at them that they'd surpass them."

The prince of darkness' heart lightened a little "So… that's why he keeps insulting me?"

"Apparently the only time you are allowed to praise a disciple is in death." shrugged Zero, "So yeah, I'd say the fact that he keeps insulting you instead of walking out means something."

Darkrai narrowed his eyes. He let out a small chuckle "Hmph, I guess he has issues then…"

Zero watched as Darkrai got calmer and calmer, until his heart beat had steadied. The blonde ranger had left out a small part of his information- that Victini actually did give him a compliment, once, while Darkrai was away.

_"He just keeps surprising me." laughed Victini "And he's getting better every day, for once I actually am enjoying training a disciple… don't tell him I said that though, you know the code."_

No matter, just that amount seemed to make Darkrai feel better. It was obvious that Darkrai was still uncomfortable around Zero though, did he still suspect him of being his childhood friend?

Well, either way Zero would never tell him the truth. Zero could only capture Pokémon against their will, not befriend them like Kairi. In the end, he was still the infamous White Knight whether he liked it or not…

"I'm leaving this cave, I'll head to the Ranger Union to mess with them." smiled the blonde dark ranger. Darkrai said nothing, but Zero knew he could hear "Good luck with your signature move."

Zero walked away before his eyes glowed purple again.

* * *

><p>Back at the Vientown ranger base, Calestia had come up with a new plan. According to Cresselia and Mercifond's calculations, they should be able to retrieve one of the three luminous crystals without invoking the wrath of the next special. Should.<p>

"But it beats waiting around and doing nothing, so we'll do it." said the lunar swan.

"Alright, which one?" Gallade asked. Cresselia pulled up the board again,  
>"Since we have already been to the Hippowdon temple, that should be the safest gem to secure. So let's head for that one- who wants to go?"<p>

"I vote for myself and Cresselia to go." said Gliscor, who had been quiet until now. The lunar swan blinked at his rapid response, then asked why. The purple bat gave a pretty good answer:

First of all, he was a desert Pokémon which meant the sandstorm raging about couldn't affect him, not to mention he was humidity and heat resistant. In addition, Cresselia was a special attacker while he focused on the physical side so there was that element in case of a guard.

However, he admitted, he wanted to do it because he wanted to talk some things over with Cresselia in private, and doing it over a mission would be good. The others respected Gliscor's feelings, and Cresselia thought it was a reasonable idea.

"Very well, Gliscor and I shall embark to the temple immediately, and nothing shall stop us!"

Everyone blinked "Well shoot."

"What?"

"You just jinxed us!"

Jynx: "You called?"

Cresselia: "I did not jinx us! Just because-"

**_BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH!_**

The ceiling burst open, a hole now in it. Through the hole and smoky haze, two figures burst into the room in a furious fashion. Both were temporarily clouded by smoke, but their auras were intense and radiated fury unimaginable, directed towards one sole Pokémon.

**"**_**AGENT PURPLE.****"**_ said two beings in the scariest voice imaginable.

"Oh Mom no…" Cresselia smacked herself. It was them. Anything but them, any time but now!

"Agent Blaze!" said an infernape.

"Agent Raptor!" said a staraptor.

"And together we are the invincible SECRET AGENT TEAM!" yelled agent Blaze at the top of his lungs.

"…why did you do that?" Gardevoir asked, already knowing who they were.

"Because it's been so long since our last appearance, the audience may have forgotten!" replied the staraptor.

"Who are they again?" asked Mercifond.

"ANYWAY!" the bird realized they were getting sidetracked "AGENT PURPLE! HOW DAAAAARRE YOU LIE TO US ABOUT BEING IN SINNOH!"

"…technically that wasn't me, that was Deox- er, Ivysaur…" the purple bat pointed out. Agent Raptor promptly knocked him halfway across the room with her Brave Bird attack. The pair had been traveling all of Sinnoh looking for him, only for another agent to report he had been in Almia the entire time.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT WE HAD TO GO THROUGH!?" Blaze raged "WE WERE WORRIED SICK!"

"Plus, you have slacked off on your secret agent training!" Raptor raged, "So starting right this instant we will train you until you are at least halfway as good as we are, now let's-"

"No!" Gliscor said suddenly "Don't you morons get it? I'm avoiding you intentionally! I can't be a secret agent, I don't have the skills!" the purple bat shouted. Everyone was surprised to see Gliscor get so emotional.

"Yes you do." said agent Blaze logically, pulling out a piece of paper "Your career aptitude test says so."

Gliscor was amazed they still had that thing "I'm going with Cresselia on a mission. A very important one."

"Oh contraire!" Raptor and Blaze surrounded Gliscor "You shall NOT escape your training! We don't care about your prior arrangements, we need a new agent for our organization!"

"I see you've surrounded me…" said the purple bat "While it's true I cannot defeat you physically, you miscalculated one crucial detail."

The agents briefly glanced at each other "And what would that be?"

"There is a trashcan right next to me."

And before they could react, Gliscor dove into the trashcan and full speed. Blaze and Raptor swarmed all over the plastic contraption, lifted the trashcan up but Gliscor was already gone.

"…I thought that applied only for the school!?" Gardevoir was amazed and confused that Gliscor could do such a thing.

"Seriously, who are these guys?" Mercifond asked again. Gallade filled her in on the details while the two agents scrounged around for clues as to where their recruit might have gone. Cresselia grew tired off their presence, so she came up with a plan.

"Gardevoir, follow my lead." she whispered to the green haired girl "Oh no! Gliscor got scared and ran away ALL THE WAY BACK TO DESTINY CITY."

The agent's ears perked up.

"Yeah, I uh, guess you guys can't go on the mission now that he's running off to our hometown!" said Gardevoir nervously.

"AHA!" exclaimed agent Raptor "TO DESTINY CITY!" and just like that they were sent on another wild goose chase. Sure enough though, a few minutes later Gliscor returned through a separate trashcan, congratulating them with their lie.

"But it confuses me why you don't want to be one of them. Moronic as they are, their job IS pretty sick." Gallade pointed out to the purple bat. Gliscor looked downwards, replying that he wasn't tough enough, and that he already had a job in mind.

"But enough about that, let's get the gem, Cresselia." said Gliscor hurriedly "Before they return…"

"Good point. We are off, see if you can find Mewtwo in the meantime, he's supposed to be watching us in case something goes wrong." the purple swan gave her last orders, then she and Gliscor hurriedly went to the port in Pueltown, now fixed and ready to transport them.

But as they ran to their destination, they were being watched by two familiar figures.

"I knew we were being tricked…" said agent Raptor, silently trailing them in the forest. Blaze was right underneath her on the ground "Seems like they're doing something important though, I mean, for them to trick us like that."

"Perhaps." said the grey and white bird "Or perhaps Gliscor just wants to slack off on his duties. Let's observe him for a bit, and decide whether or not to punish him then…"

And so, they silently trailed the pair.

* * *

><p>Darkrai felt calm. He felt at peace.<p>

"I have finally achieved Nirvana…" said the prince of darkness within his inner mind.

"No, no you haven't." said Asmodeus, who was right next to him. Darkrai looked beside him, here in his purple hazy mind-space was the dead guy who lived inside his body.

"Oh great, not you…"

"Well hey, if you really did achieve Nirvana then I wouldn't be here." said the king of nightmares sarcastically "So yeah, you suck."

"What do you want?" mumbled Darkrai.

"Well first of all… what the heck is THAT?" Asmodeus pointed beside Darkrai. He turned and saw a giant white golem, towering above himself.

"BRDRDR." greeted Giga the regigigas.

"Oh hey, what's up?" asked Darkrai, to Asmodeus he answered that this was Giga, his imaginary friend who turned out to be real "Hey Giga, can you tell me how to defeat Absolix?" asked the prince of darkness.

"BRDRDRDR." replied the giant white and gold golem. Darkrai sighed "Really? Even though I'm your friend?"

"I know what his weakness is." grinned the ever evil Asmodeus. Giga protested, but Asmodeus opened his mouth anyway:

"Absolix is allergic to the word Kaleidoscope!" snorted the dead man "The more you say it, the more he sneezes and breaks out in chills and hives!"

"BRDRDRDRDRDR!" Giga frowned, not knowing this. Darkrai gaped and blinked "Seriously!?"

"Yeah! It's hilarious! Not that I used it when I beat him though." smirked the king of nightmares. At this, Darkrai remembered hearing that Absolix had only lost once. He also had heard from his mother that the one person he ever lost to was Asmodeus. Hearing it from the man himself was a different story.

"You've beaten Absolix before!?"

"BRDRDR!?"

"Yep." said the red and blue eyed dark type "But, that was before he was this strong, I sincerely doubt I could do it now…" turning to Darkrai he added "Well, but that's what training is for. So on that note, give me your body so I can train."

"No!" yelled the prince of darkness, no longer in a meditative pose "More like, you get out of my body!"

"Can't. I have a promise to fulfil, remember?" grinned Asmodeus.

"Oh yeah and what's that?" Darkrai asked sarcastically "Kill my mom? Inflict nightmares on everyone? Total anarchy?"

"MAYYBBEEE…" grinned Asmodeus like a troll "But you'll never know…"

"BRDRDRDRDR!" Giga tried to smash Asmodeus, but because this was only inside Darkrai's mind the guy was unaffected.

"I know, I'm trying to get rid of him too…" said Darkrai angrily.  
>"And I'm trying to educate this idiot." Asmodeus retorted "What the hell did I say about trying to be friends with the creatures of the light? We. are. Darkness." Asmodeus emphasized "And being such, we can only serve to hinder them. That is all there-"<p>

"You know what?" Darkrai interrupted him "I can accept the fact that I'm a dark type, I can even accept the fact that I probably represent evil itself. But who says that has to be a bad thing?"

"The f*ck?" Asmodeus blurted out. Darkrai walked up to him and jabbed a finger into Asmodeus' chest.

"Sure, I'm a 'creature of the darkness' as you put it. But I figured something out. My friends, the ones you think will betray me? They won't. I know they won't. Furthermore, I've figured out what to do with my awful powers.

I'm going to embrace them, and then use them to obliterate my enemies. Yeah that's right: Dark justice."

Asmodeus blinked. He stared down at Darkrai, unable to comprehend. He let it all sink in and responded "You really think you can be that naïve? Just think you can use these nightmare powers for good!? Trust in the opposite side and hope everything will end up hunky-dorey!?"

"Yes." said Darkrai "And if you don't believe me, then just watch me prove it." the man walked away, then stopped.

"Oh, and remember how sometimes I dream about your memories?" said the pitch black Pokémon, "If what I dream is true… then you had someone once. You too, had someone 'from the light' as you call it, who treated you as a friend."

Asmodeus snarled, turning away "That was… that was an exception! A fluke! Hell, we never even got along the moment I died!"

"That isn't what your heart says." Darkrai responded. And just that like, Asmodeus vanished to his own section of Darkrai's heart. The prince of darkness sighed, another failed attempt at negotiating with his 'roommate'.  
>"BRDRDR."<p>

"Yeah, he is a dick." said Darkrai. But, Darkrai thought, he behaved in such a way because he suspected Asmodeus had been treated poorly in his life. Through bits and pieces and the guy's dreams, Darkrai could piece together that almost no one saw him in a positive light, not even Arceus.

Except for one… someone named Celeste or something? She appeared in his dreams often, and often those were the only times Asmodeus dreamt fondly.

Suddenly, there was a knocking noise.

"BRDRDRDR?" asked Giga. Darkrai paused. He wasn't quite sure-

**_WHAM!_**

Darkrai was painfully forced back into reality, courtesy of his master Victini bopping him on the head. Darkrai yelled out from the pain, and his master lightly flitted about the area with his usual demeanor.

"So, did you find the right state of mind?"

"Unfortunately no. I was interrupted by the dead… I mean, you." Darkrai almost let his secret slip. No one could know Asmodeus was still kicking. Luckily his master never noticed his near-slip-up.

"Too bad. But well, what did I expect from someone like you?" shrugged the fire rabbit. Darkrai was silent, taking into account what Zero had said. The question was, was it true?

"Hey, if you can lay off the insults for five seconds, I'd like to talk to you."

"Oh really? Well, if they sting that much then I suppose I can be nice for five seconds." smiled the fire rabbit "What's on your mind?"

"…so I keep hearing from the old guys," Darkrai referred to Team Nova "that you taking on an apprentice is a big deal or something. Can I have the details on that? I'm curious."

"Well, if you want to hear a long boring story," Victini began "Then I suppose I can give you the details."

Victini began telling his story. In his clan, or rather his species, taking up an apprentice was considered to be a crucial element of a master's life. The act was supposed to emphasize teaching the young how to fight, defend the clan and be prepared to teach the next generation when the previous was gone. It was considered a great honor because it emphasized progress, the young taking up responsibility, and the spirit of all the departed rekindled anew in the new generation.

"Huh… okay." said the prince of darkness, contemplating "What about the 'ritual'?"

"The what?"

"I overheard Dusknoir say something about a 'Ritual of Eternal Flame' that only a child or apprentice could perform. What's that mean?" wondered Darkrai.

Victini paused for a brief moment "Eh, just some religious bull that no one really follows anymore… don't worry about it."

"Okay." said Darkrai easily. Victini inwardly sighed- he dodged a bullet there. Not yet…

"Anything else?" asked the master. Darkrai could not think of anything, but still needed to rest, so he sat there alongside Victini for a while. Soon his master picked the conversation back up, asking about Darkrai's future besides defeating a being stronger than God. The prince of darkness told him that, if possible, after defeating Absolix he'd like to get married to Lopunny.

Victini questioned why Darkrai wanted to marry some random nobody when he had someone as great as Gardevoir. This of course sent Darkrai into a frenzy of red faced anger and denied all accounts of him and Gardevoir ever being mates.

The fire rabbit could tell he would get nowhere with that so he switched to a new topic: did he have joining the legendary council in mind? Darkrai responded that yes, he wanted to join. He told Victini that he previously was aiming for the God position, but now he had decided to give it to Cresselia.

He explained that Cresselia was a better leader than him, so she should get to be God "But! I'm still going to be stronger than her!" noted Darkrai. He recounted how the two of them used to get into fights constantly, but lately they had stopped their sibling rivalry.

Victini added to this, saying he had grandkids of his own, and they fought all the time as well. Darkrai remarked that he forgot Victini was over 200 years old; the fire rabbit explained that his species didn't really age past 30 or so, and remained youthful their entire lives.

"Sheesh, I wish I had that…" Darkrai added "So wait, did you see Absolix 200 years ago?"

"I did, once." nodded Victini "I was only five, and that was when Absolix was still in the legendary council. I didn't really know what the big deal about him was, but I tell you, he was a lot scarier back then."

"He was?" questioned the prince of darkness.

"Oh yes." said Victini, no longer smiling "Even when I was five, I was utterly afraid of him. And I remember everyone else was, too."

"Shit… he has one heck of a past, doesn't he?" Darkrai mumbled "First he's in the council, designated to be the next God, then declares war on my mom and now, 200 years later, wants my best friend for some stupid reason and still wants to kill mom!"

"You have to wonder what he went through." Victini nodded "Regardless, he has to be stopped. His revenge will be the end of us all."

"On it." Darkrai noted, "Just as soon as I figure out my signature move… back to it!"

Invigorated, Darkrai began using strange dark powers in his fist to punch the walls, in hopes to discover the way to use his so called ultimate attack. Victini merely watched him, smiling, and thinking of the all-important Ritual of Eternal Flame.

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE WITH GLISCOR AND THE UGMON<strong>

"I don't even want to know…" Cresselia mumbled under her breath. She and Gliscor had just arrived at the edge of the Haruba Desert, where at the end of it lay their destination the Hippowdon Temple. Or more accurately, what was left of it since Absolix and Darkrai destroyed the left and right walls, and the ceiling of the innermost chamber caved in.

"Which reminds me," Gliscor spoke "we never actually saw a glowing crystal on our first venture here. So that must mean it's been hidden away from the paths and the central chamber.

"Most likely." said Cresselia, "So we'll look carefully for a secret passage or something."

Gliscor became silent again as the two flew over the sand. Cresselia's mind was focused on the purple bat during their venture; what did he need to talk to her about? He had been acting very strange for the last couple of days, but the blue and yellow swan couldn't hazard a guess as to what was bothering him. Although clearly, something was.

"There it is." said Gliscor, the Hippowdon Temple within sight. Just before they reached it however, something leapt from the sand and stood in their path- a male hippowdon, and an angry one at that.

"No one enters!" he roared "This Hippowdon Temple is sacred ground, and you are not eligible to go in!"

"What the-? Since when was there a guard?" Cresselia wondered.

"I have always guarded this place!"

"No you haven't. We came here before and you weren't there." pointed out Gliscor.

"Uh… well… that's because…"

* * *

><p><em>FLASHBACK<em>

_Absolix: "My apprentice and I, as well as a few others, will be entering the temple in a short while. Any problem with that?"_

_Guard: "N-No, not at all!"_

* * *

><p><em>END FLASHBACK<em>

"…you wouldn't believe me even if I told you… but the point is I'm back now! Leave immediately or face me in combat!"

Of course, there was no turning back. The two unleashed their EP, letting it rise to its natural level. The hippowdon immediately attacked with an Earthquake, but since Gliscor was flying typed and Cresselia had levitate, this did nothing. Exposing himself, the guard was wide open for a direct attack: Cresselia nailed him with a Psychic, and Gliscor with a Strength attack, in that order.

After the second hit the hippowdon cringed, but did not give up. However Gliscor and Cresselia had already anticipated this, and charged straight at him. Gliscor used Iron Defense to harden his skin and muscles, then slammed on the guard's snout with a Poison Jab assault. Gliscor landed five total blows before the hippowdon was knocked out.

"Very good, onto the temple." Cresselia was impressed by Gliscor's strength, though he was still below her own. The two entered the temple, with the secret agents secretly trailing them in a secretive fashion secretly.

By hiding behind a poster that said "SECRET AGENTS ARE NOT BEHIND THIS POSTER".

Gliscor and Cresselia arrived at the base of the Temple, just below the ground. There, they saw the familiar eight paths from their previous adventure.

"Did that human woman ever give us any clues as to where it was located?" asked Gliscor.

"No." Cresselia could not remember any hints given to them by Erma "We're on our own…"

"Maybe we should have taken Mercifond…" mumbled Gliscor, "Her Chosen One powers could help us in this situation."

"No, no, two is good. If we travelled in greater numbers, the plot would notice us." Cresselia said wisely "Come to think of it, weren't you and the secret agents supposed to prevent the plot from occurring?"

"Well, a funny thing happened…"

* * *

><p><em>FLASHBACK<em>

_Gliscor, and agents Blaze and Raptor sat in a spacious office with many lights. Sitting across from them was one of their informants, agent Deepwater the crawdaunt._

_"We have news on the plot." said Deepwater, "Or rather, lack of it."_

_"What do you mean?" questioned agent Raptor._

_"Well you see… after thoroughly investigating the matter… turns out there is no plot."_

_"I could have told you that…"__ Gliscor whispered to himself._

_"So, the boss is giving you another assignment, don't know when though so hang out until we can sort out this whole 'renaming' thing." said the dark water type, screams of various acronyms in the hallway across from them._

* * *

><p><em>END FLASHBACK<em>

"I knew it…" Cresselia said "Oh well, one less thing to worry about. Let's find that gem."

Gliscor and Cresselia observed the room, trying to find any hidden chambers or such. Looking carefully, the found a second set of stairs leading further downwards. Going down there, they found themselves with a lack of light until Cresselia used a variation of Moonlight to guide them.

Now in a dark, and incredibly large circular room, the pair had to proceed from here. While they searched about the room, Cresselia finally decided to bring up the subject:  
>"So, what did you want to talk about?"<p>

There was a brief silence before Gliscor answered "Are you happy being with Latios?"

Cresselia blinked, not expecting this "Well of course I am. I've had a crush on him for the past two years, and he's been a really good boyfriend."

"So even though you've been together for only a week, you think he'll be good?"

"Yes." Cresselia beamed. A long silence followed. Cresselia could not see Gliscor since he had wandered off too far from the central moon. Eventually, Gliscor answered her.

"That's good."

"But enough about me, what about you?" asked the concerned lunar swan "I think something's been bugging you, and I'd like to know what."

Silence. Then- "Found it!"

There was a screeching metallic sound and suddenly, a part of the floor dropped and revealed a new passageway that lead straight to the bottom of the Temple. There were some crumbling stairs, suggesting a staircase once lay here, but not anymore.

"I think we should go down there." said Gliscor "So let's gently…"

The two used their respective powers to lightly float down until they finally reached the bottom. The bottom was well lit compared to the previous section, and the reason it was well lit was obvious.

"Look!" In the middle end of the room, sitting on a human built dais was a large, glowing yellow crystal. It was approximately the size of a basketball, and was shaped like a crescent moon, most likely by the humans who had lived here before.

"It's… beautiful." Cresselia's awe was due to the crystals effect: unlike the shadow crystal, this crystal had absorbed one specific emotion: appreciation. So for all the years of experiencing gratitude for something or someone, was now stored within the crystal and gave this off to those near it.

"This must be it…" Cresselia said "Let's take it."

The gem itself was easy to remove, despite its size it was surprisingly light. Cresselia levitated the glowing gem with her psychic powers, and just like that their mission was done.

"That's it then." Gliscor smiled to himself, a strange look in his eyes "Mission complete."

"Yes, now we just need the other two, but those will wait. Let's go back and see if Malispite's returned yet." Cresselia flew upwards back into the previous cavern. But as she flew, she noticed Gliscor hadn't moved. She looked back and called to him, but he did not respond.

Cresselia stopped herself and reversed directions. She flew back to him "Gliscor?"

"Cresselia. It's time to tell you the real reason I wanted to go with you." said Gliscor, a bittersweet smiled on his face "Because this will be the last time I can go with you."

Cresselia furrowed her brow, a look of concern upon her face. She asked what that meant. Gliscor responded by telling her the truth. He loved her.

Words could not express the mixed feelings that flooded Cresselia in that instant. Her lip quivered as a new level of understanding was made apparent for his actions as of late. Gliscor merely stared back at her, a sympathetic look in his eyes. He knew she loved another man, and he knew they could never be because of this.

"Not that it was your fault. I never had the guts to tell you." the purple bat sighed.

"Gliscor… I…"

"Don't say anything. Please, just listen." said the ground type in a sad voice "I… I knew that we couldn't be together. But regardless, as long as I am with Calestia, I'll always hurt inside whenever I see you with… with him.

Also, I'm not strong like you are. Like Darkrai, or Gallade is. You know I'm only holding you back no matter how much I try and that eventually we'll drift apart, me from everyone else.

But moreover, I never wanted this. I never wanted anything to do with secret agents, or Absolix, or anything that we've been going through! I just want my normal life back!"

Gliscor shouted that last part. He paused for a second to regain his composure, Cresselia could see a small tear in his eye "…but things won't ever be normal again. I can't stop myself from falling in love with you, I can't keep up with anyone else in the group, and in the end, I don't think that I'll ever be able to escape my fate of just being below average."

"Gliscor, please don't leave us! W-We can get you tutorage, Darkrai will be devastated if you leave-!"

"And that's just it." Gliscor said simply "I'll always want to come back to you. But I never will. So instead of just leaving Calestia, I've found the perfect solution to my problems. I'm going to join another group, one whose leader is so strong, maybe he can correct my destiny."

Cresselia was agape, as a sudden cold chill came into the room "What… what are you saying?"

"What he's saying my dear," a deep voice penetrated the darkness on Gliscor's end of the room. A black Umbreon with a crown and a cape stepped forth, smiling. Just behind him, a black sphere with multiple eyes and a mouth.

"is that he wants to join someone who can understand his plight. Me." grinned Kurades.

The swan became frantic, a panic in her rising voice "No! Gliscor! You can't! You can't possibly-!"

"Can't possibly join?" asked Kurades rhetorically "What do you know of Gliscor's problems? You, the daughter of the current God, who grew up surrounded by vast resources and some of the strongest mentors in existence.

To him, an accursed one like myself, how could possibly understand the struggle of one who has been doomed from the start?" spat the dark lord.

Cresselia stuttered in her response, leaving it illegible and Umbreon asked Gliscor if he wanted to leave now. Before he could answer, the group was instantly surrounded by agents Blaze and Raptor, who also cried out for Gliscor to not make the wrong decision.

"Oh, and you two." Gliscor gave them a nasty look "You two also won't leave me alone. I'm not joining you, I'll never join you. And you know why?

I don't want world peace or anything like that. I just want a good life for myself and you all denied it. That's why, with Kurades' help…" Gliscor continued "He can make me more powerful, and I can use that to turns things back to normal. And take away my emotions of love, so that I can't feel immeasurable pain every time I see her…!"

"Gliscor!" yelled Cresselia. Blaze and Raptor attacked Umbreon in a flurry of Close Combat punches, but Umbreon used his paper power to subdue the two easily.

"This fight may drag on, let's leave now." motioned the dark type to Kurades and Gliscor.

"One last thing." Gliscor spoke to Umbreon. He turned to Cresselia "I have a message for Darkrai. We made a promise once when we were kids, to always be best friends. Tell him that I revoke our promise now."

Cresselia screamed, tears rushing down her eyes as Gliscor gave the okay. With one last grin from Kurades, and a couple techniques from Umbreon, paper flew around the three Pokémon. Cresselia flew into the stream of words, trying her best to catch up to Gliscor who seemed to grow ever more distant. Without even looking back, the purple bat had vanished and Cresselia was back in the Hippowdon Temple.

She howled in pain.

* * *

><p>When Cresselia was done with her account, the rest of Calestia, Malispite included, could hardly believe what had happened. Denial turned into anger, which turned into blame. Malispite punched a wall, blaming himself for being absent during all of this. Cresselia was taking it hard, and even Gallade and Gardevoir cried themselves, each one blaming themselves for Gliscor's departure into Atrum Futurum.<p>

"So what, he's our enemy now!? Gliscor!?" yelled Gallade angrily, beating one of the walls "…damnit… he can't be… he…"

Latios was silent. He too was worried and sad, but questioned whether he should comfort his girlfriend, considering he was the indirect cause of this whole ordeal.

Eventually, Mercifond and Gardevoir decided to bunk with Cresselia that night, to comfort her in her time of grief. The psychic dragon gave his love a quick peck on the cheek, letting her know he still cared before he went off to bed. Then, Latios went to seek advice from his mother.

Malispite and Gallade went off somewhere on their own, no one knew exactly where. Arceus, who eventually heard about the whole thing, relayed the message to Darkrai and Mewtwo.  
>Mewtwo's location was still unknown, no one knew how he reacted. Darkrai, the man whom Gliscor was best friends with, was furious and worried at the same time. He heard about Gliscor's personal message: how he revoked their promise from years ago.<p>

After shedding some tears, blasting a few rocks, Darkrai became eerily calm. He walked straight up to Victini and asked him to give him the hardest training regime the fire rabbit could think of.

"I'm going to get Gliscor back." swore Darkrai "Even if I have to break every damn bone in his body to drag him back here."

Victini and Darkrai started a new training program, one even harder than the last.

Gliscor arrived at the Atrum Futurum headquarters. He was greeted with happy grins, except from Weavile, and especially from the former agent Slicer, who heard he had turned down the secret agents. Kurades spoke to Gliscor alone: he understood the pain of love himself, and so he told Gliscor his second order of business after getting his body back was to rid him of the annoying emotion.

The first order of business of course, was to give everyone, including the powerless bat a devastatingly powerful cursed seal to help him with his other goals.  
>And, for the longest time in a long while, Gliscor finally smiled.<p>

This was the new beginning.


	24. Black Hole I

Chapter sixty: Black Hole (Act one: Shadows Closing In)

* * *

><p>Lugia was in the middle of a desert. Not a creature to be found, except for him and a small floating robot made by agent Coder of H.I.D.D.E.N.<p>

In front of him was a pile of rubble, collapsed stone pillars and seals that no longer worked. An altar, now destroyed.

"It was broken…" said the great white bird "It was broken… this entire time…"

The great psychic stared at the ruins in dead silence. This was it.

"Activate." said Lugia to the robot. The formerly lifeless machine came to life, whirring "Record message." commanded the psychic, the robot immediately obliging. As soon as it was set up, the psychic spoke again

"I have failed." said Lugia "Goodbye my brother, Arceus… and Cresselia. Goodbye…"

There was a silence from Lugia, as he lowered his head in sadness "Send to Ho-oh." he finally commanded. The robot immediately zoomed off towards the Almia region, leaving Lugia in the dust.

"I'll have to go now." he said in a low voice, "While I still have control…"

The left side of his face was blackened purple, with a blood red eye in its center. It had been like that since Lugia last saw Ho-oh. It was spreading at a rapid pace.

* * *

><p>Cresselia lay awake in bed the entire night that Gliscor had left. Yes, Gliscor, one of the dearest and most trusted Pokémon she had ever met had abandoned the team to join Kurades. His reasoning? That his feelings would be unreciprocated by her. That he was weak with no way to go on. That he just wanted a normal life.<p>

Kurades could give him these three things.

She considered herself a failure, a crushing blow to her heart. She had failed to realize his ever growing silence, his longing looks and his increasingly pessimistic outlook on life. Because of her, Gliscor had become desperate enough to listen to anyone willing to give him and answer to his life. She had failed as a team leader.

She had failed him just as a friend. And, that was partially to blame: She could not think of him as being anything more. She loved Latios; could her own feelings really be blamed for this ordeal? Is she had loved him, would Gliscor not have left?

The lunar swan's back crescent was increasingly dim. She heard her brother had taken it hard too; he apparently went to Victini and trained as hard as he could, cursing under his breath the entire time. And then when denial was over, he shed tears for his lost friend.

She didn't know how the others would take it. They all seemed to drift away to think on their own, much like Cresselia had. The lunar swan had opened a channel to speak to her mother, who tried to consul her and give advice in her time of need.

_"Cresselia, I know this must be difficult for you… and I am sorry. I had no idea that my brother… that Kurades had…" the holographic image paused, thinking "…I'm sure he'll come back, honey."_

The lunar swan winced at the memory. She knew the look in Gliscor's eyes, the one of a broken and defeated creature. His look was one who had simply given up and chose the easiest path. Gliscor would not come back by his own violation.

Cresselia would bring him back. She, Darkrai, and the rest of Calestia would bring the purple bat back no matter what the cost. But in their current state they had no idea where Atrum Futurum was, or even how to defeat the monstrosity known as Kurades. They would have to make do with ranking up in the Legendary Council, and that meant completing their mission.

It was at this did she sense someone in the room. She turned, seeing for the first time in two days, Mewtwo.

"Mewtwo!" she gasped, jolting her head up "You finally-"

"I came just to give you a message." said the psycat. Something was wrong with his voice, it almost looked like he was straining to make the words come out of his mouth. Cresselia noticed he was sweating "I… can't help you anymore. I… I can only help from a distance."

"Mewtwo, what do you mean? Why have you been avoiding us?"

"I haven't." said the clone "I've been avoiding her."

He said the word "Her" with a look of utter disgust and frustration. At first, Cresselia thought that he was talking about Deoxys. However his look gave away everything: he was now staring straight to the left side of her and to the back, the perspiration on his face increasing and his own power level rising from the anger.

He was looking at Gardevoir's room.

"She… Gardevoir… every time I see her I want to snap her neck and I don't know why!" Mewtwo said forcibly. Cresselia was agape with fear, and Mewtwo noticed this and tried to remain calm "My insanity is clearly increasing. I have to leave from here. I will monitor you from a distance."

"Wait Mewtwo! Maybe mom can-"

"No. She can't. Goodbye." Mewtwo instantly teleported out of the area. Cresselia held her breath. He didn't come back.

* * *

><p>"That's the reason!?" questioned the hologram of Arceus. She, Cresselia, and Deoxys were in a private room together, discussing Mewtwo's departure.<p>

"He says that he'll monitor us from a distance but-"

"That… fool!" Arceus interrupted her daughter "First he severs the connection and then his insanity increases without telling me!? Can't he learn to rely on others for once!"

Arceus gazed at her daughter and Deoxys "If ANY of you see him… contact me right that second, and I'll deal with him." Deoxys replied that she was on it.

Arceus vanished, and Deoxys told Cresselia she was going to look for Mewtwo. She flew away, and the lunar swan went back into the main room where her team awaited her. They all looked at her tensely; Cresselia had not told anyone else about Mewtwo's new affliction, especially Gardevoir. They were staring at her because there was one less member in the room.

Cresselia braced herself.

"Gliscor is gone." she said simply "But… But I believe that we can take him back. So we'll do that someday, but until then we need to complete our mission."

At first, silence. Then, murmurs of agreements and heads nodding. For now, the mission came first. Cresselia inwardly sighed, at least that was done.

"We managed to retrieve one of the luminous crystals yesterday, the one in the Hippowdon Temple. The Rangers have taken it away and are storing it in a safe location."

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE IN A SAFE LOCATION<strong>

"Thank you for doing this Mr. Hall." said Crawford and Luana to Blake Hall. He had been approached with the handling of any and all luminous crystals they found and storing them. That way, it would be impossible for the nefarious Team Dim Sun to gain control of it.

"You're very welcome." said Blake Hall, who if he had the muscles to smile he would have.

"It's a good thing we can count on you and Altru Incorporated ™. to guard our crystals from Dim Sun."

"Indeed, and they would never look to think in our nearly completed Altru Tower™ for it." said the totally not evil Blake Hall "Now if you excuse me, I have to go finish the Dream Energy™ project…"

"By the way what is the Dream energy™?" asked Luana.

"Well it isn't enslaving Pokémon and torturously sapping their EP for cheap electricity if that's what you were thinking."

* * *

><p>"…The only ones that remain are the one inside the volcano, and the one inside the old castle." finished the lunar swan.<p>

Cresselia took a breath "I want Malispite and Mercifond to head towards the castle. Gardevoir and Gallade, you will take the volcano. Both are relatively close, so you should be able to get there in a few hours by flying and boat respectively."

"Got it." Malispite nodded curtly "Sis!"

"Let's do it!" the two expanded their wide bat wings, and took off without another moment of hesitation. Gallade and Gardevoir were met by the rangers Elaine and Crawford, who offered to take them by ship to the volcano.

Soon, she was alone. Meloetta was supposedly in another room with her three guards. The purple swan had planned for this, she needed to be alone after all that had happened. She needed to consider her feelings and work out a way to get Gliscor back.

Unfortunately, she had no such peace. For a mere five minutes later, there was a roar of wind and Ho-oh crashed to the ground. He was frantic, he had a look of worry on his face and was screeching incoherent cries. He saw Cresselia and bounded over to her, his giant size nearly wreaking the deck.

"Cresselia!" he shouted "Get on my back now! There's no time to explain!"

"Wh-what!? Ho-oh why-"

"GET ON MY BACK!" Ho-oh shouted forcibly, "Before it's too late! It's Lugia!"

Hearing the word 'Lugia', Cresselia hopped on Ho-oh's broad back without another moment of hesitation. Wasting no time, the phoenix flew upwards at an amazing rate, then zoomed forwards faster than a supersonic jet.

_"What is it Ho-oh!?"_ the lunar swan spoke to him telepathically, the wind making it impossible to communicate normally _"What's wrong with Lugia!?"_

Ho-oh grimaced in his own mind _"Cresselia, listen carefully. I will now tell you the truth about what happened on Cipher Island."_

Cresselia's eyes opened wide. Cipher Island? The evil organization who tried to create shadow Pokémon? She had read all about it in the history books, but Ho-oh told her that some crucial details were left out of the books; a secret so potent that it had to be kept away from the masses.

_"What happened there was the start of everything, and the situation we're in now."_ said Ho-oh _"Right now, as we speak…. Lugia is trying to kill himself."_

* * *

><p>Malispite and Mercifond had improved their flying speed since coming to Almia. They were able to traverse almost 25 kilometers in under an hour before they had to stop. The only reason they had to stop was because it was getting colder and the wind chill would have frozen them.<p>

Up in Almia's northern area, it was snowing. The white crystals covered everything in sight and although Almia Castle was but a short distance away, it was surrounded by a frozen lake.

"If only we knew Surf…" grumbled Malispite, shivering from the cold.

"What we need it an ice breaker or something," his sister retorted "since we can't fly too high in this weather."

"Damn snowstorm…stupid cold… *muttermuttermutter*"

"Malispite, stop complaining and help me think of something to break these massive icebergs in our way."

"My fist."

"I'm serious we need-"

But before Mercifond could finish, her brother had leapt away, fist cloaked in electrical energy and red symbols all over his body. The size of his fist suddenly increased.

"Demon's Mega Thunder!" Malispite shouted his combination attack. It hit the frozen lake with the force of a large bomb, it caused the ice to instantly shatter and crack into nothingness while waves from Malispite's impact coursed the opposite way. The noise from the entire ice sheet was deafening, but Malispite's fist won in the end.

All of the ice in the entire lake was broken up into tiny, harmless fragments.

Mercifond was impressed, almost speechless. Her brother returned to her, shaking the cold off his fist "Okay, now we need Surf…"

"How did you-!?" she gaped.

"I was training before the Xeno incident remember? I finished it when I got back." grumbled the cold brown bat "Hey here's a thought: use your Chosen One powers to do something and get us across somehow."

"…Alright." Mercifond supposed she could try. While her Chosen One powers were random at best, they always seemed to do exactly the right thing at the right time. In this way, instead of doing actual writing, Cataclyptic could just bullsh*t the plot to go along.

A Deus-ex-light surrounded the white bat, trying to channel her Chosen One powers into doing something useful. The light floated away from her, and a halo suddenly surrounded the next ridge. The twins peered over the hill and saw a large motorboat. They grinned, and immediately commandeered the sea worthy vessel. They were about to take off, but then realized they had no idea how to make it work.

Being created by humans, the instructions were written in a human language and the numerous levers and beeping lights didn't help the case.

"How do we get it started?"

"What about that?" Malispite pointed to a large red button. He pressed it to see what would happen.

_"SELF DESTRUCT SEQUENCE INITIATED"_

"WHAT THE HELL!?"

_"THIS VEHICLE WILL BLOW UP IN TEN SECONDS UNLESS THE OVERRIDE SWITCH IS FLIPPED"_

"Find it find it!" Mercifond yelled as the computerized voice began counting down. They switched on every switch they could find.

_"FIVE SECONDS, FOUR SECONDS"_

"Aaaaggghh!" the twins yelled about, trying to find the right one.

_"SELF DESTRUCT SEQUENCE DEACTIVATED, CONGRADULATIONS"_ the computer suddenly beeped. The twins sighed from relief, they must have finally pressed the right one.

_"HOWEVER, I AM GOING TO BLOW UP ANYWAY"_

A pause.

"WHAT THE F-

**_BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM!_**

It detonated in a fiery explosion, scorching the ground and melting all the snow near it. However the explosion was so intense and so powerful that it blew Malispite and Mercifond all the way across the lake to Almia Castle. They landed on the island scorched but at their destination.

"Hey… we did it!" Mercifond shouted gleefully once she saw they had arrived.

"Too much pain… can't go on… sis… live on for me…!" her brother said dramatically.

"Oh get up."

"Hey screw you my defenses aren't as high as yours you know!" grumbled the brown bat as he stood up. Mercifond healed him a little bit, and the two opened the large doors of Almia Castle. They looked at each other, and forced their way inside, then closed the doors to keep the cold out. The two began to explore, all the while unaware that someone had sensed their presence…

* * *

><p>Halfway across the small country of Almia, Gallade and Gardevoir had just hitched a ride to the volcano. Their ferryman of course, was Drake of the former Hoenn Elite Four. His condition was the same: a free ferry to the volcano provided that if they found the One Piece, they give to him.<p>

"Ol' Roger was a crafty one." Drake said to them, "Probably hid it in another series… maybe Toriko… *muttermutter*…"

They agreed to his odd condition. Now, they were in a fast ship bearing towards Almia's volcano. Drake had explained to them that the volcano's island was abandoned because it was still active and could erupt at any time.

Additionally, he heard a strange rumor: that there were new residents on the island, but they were neither human nor Pokémon. The sea captain told them to be careful of the island; he didn't know what lay ahead.

Gallade and Gardevoir sat together inside the belly of the ship. The two young adults were playing everyone's favorite family game: Mad World.

"Why is there so much blood?" Gardevoir had to cover her eyes part way.

"I… I don't even…" Gallade replied. The game was just as violent as everyone at school said it was and more. Worse, Gallade was at the kitten level.

"Wait no don't step on them!" but the yelling was futile as the black and white man slowly put on a spiky boot. Before his character could continue, he shut off the game "Wow… that was…"

"Who would want to play such an awful game!?" Gardevoir asked rhetorically.

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE IN BLAKE HALL'S EVIL OFFICE<strong>

Blake Hall: "Die, kittens!"

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE WITH GALLADE AND GARDEVOIR<strong>

"What other games are there?" asked Gardevoir. She began browsing through various titles on the shelf next to the Nintendo© Wii©.

"How just Wii Fit?" Gallade asked. Gardevoir agreed, and it went pretty well until the scale told Gallade he was morbidly anorexic for a 60 year old man. They thought it would be best to not play any video games for a while. A silence broke between the two as they sat on a human bed.

Gallade himself was having mixed feelings about being with Gardevoir. He, who had once put his heart out for her now knew that she would reject him. In some way this made him disappointed, but then another part of him wondered if he ever truly loved her. He had always claimed that he loved her and vowed marriage, but…

…but now that he was more mature, and actually understood the weight of his words, he wondered if that was how he truly felt about her. There was no doubt in his mind that Gardevoir was one of the sweetest, most beautiful Pokémon on the planet, and that any man would be blessed to have her.

And yet at the same time, he could not see himself mated with her anymore. He thought it was destined for them to be together, but apparently destiny had other plans. Maybe. This was so confusing…

However he at least knew one thing: that Gardevoir saw him as a friend and nothing more. And while she claimed she wasn't in love with anyone at the moment, Gallade had noted suspicious behavior from her. It appeared to him that she was infatuated with a certain someone, or at least in denial of being such. But he needed to confirm this.

"Gardevoir are you infatuated with anyone right now?" he asked. Gardevoir smiled a little, saying that she was not. The green haired Pokémon explained that she did not fall in love so easily.

"Oh okay; I thought you had a thing for Darkrai for a second there."

As soon as Gallade said 'a thing for Darkrai' Gardevoir fell off the bed and onto the floor. She got up and had a visible blush on her face, stammering illegible words "N-N-N-No! I-I don't have a thing for him! Not at all!" she cried.

"…Do you really mean that?" asked the fighting psychic in a questioning tone. The girl bit her mouth and held onto her dress, obviously having an inner conflict within her herself "I… I…" she stammered.

Gallade smiled, seeing that even she had problems making up her mind "You too huh?"

Gardevoir looked up at Gallade, who started being serious "It's okay to question love."

The light green haired psychic lowered her amber eyes. Gallade gently took her hand into his and told her not to worry it over too much, to just let her feelings choose. The female psychic then asked Gallade an earnest question: what if her feelings were wrong and did not make sense?

Gallade thought for a bit before answering "Since when does love have reasoning to it?"

It was a solid argument, so Gardevoir ceased her questions for a moment of introspection. And as Gallade held her hand, he too began to look inside himself, contemplating his own advice.

Then the boat jerked to a stop. The familiar engine humming grew silent, an eerie stillness overtook the boat. Assuming something went wrong, Gallade and Gardevoir released their hands then cautiously began taking steps up to the deck.

Halfway up the stairs, they ran into Drake who nearly collided into them in a panic "You won't believe it!" he said to them in a rush, going back up the stairs.

"Why did you stop the boat so suddenly?" asked Gardevoir.

"I didn't." said Drake. He led them up to the deck of the boat, then pointed towards the volcanic island "They did."

Gardevoir and Gallade looked upon the island and froze in their tracks with fear.

"Why elloooo dere mon! Just de mons we needed t' see." said a voice in a thick Jamaican accent "I su-ppose you be here fo de stone yah?

Well mon, you not gett-in it. Not afta ya sham-ed and stole from us no."

It was an yellowish orange creature, reptilian in design resembling a miniature tyrannosaurus with large forearms, wearing sunglasses and a red T-shirt. This was the reason Gallade and Gardevoir stopped cold- because this thing was not a Pokémon. It was something that shouldn't be able to exist in the natural world.

It was a Digimon.

* * *

><p><strong>CODE RED! CODE RED!<strong>

Darkrai continued running atop water in circles, trying to break his speed record with each revolution. He had no idea how fast he was going, but eventually he felt himself going so fast his vision could not keep up with himself. Everything became a blur quickly.

But this was not the limit. Darkrai concentrated, envisioning the cave of which he was in. Using the shadow crystal's enormous presence as a base, he extended his amplified aura around the cave. Darkrai could now feel the surrounding area, every nook and cranny, every stone every crack in the wall.

_"Your mother does this all the time,"_ he remembered Victini had said, _"but hers encompasses the entirety of Destiny City. I know you aren't up to par, so let's start with this cave."_

Darkrai accelerated. Faster and faster he went, until he himself became a blur.

He didn't know how fast he went, but eventually he had to stop. Exhausted, he kneeled on the cavern floor gasping for air.

"Impressive." the fire rabbit had returned "You might have just broken the sound barrier just now."

Darkrai looked up at his mentor and grinned in between heavy breathing. Victini continued "Well, what I thought was a sonic boom was probably just a fart."

"Yeah, yeah whatever. So are you actually going to help me, or are you going to keep disappearing?" said Darkrai, annoyed.

"What can I say? Coffins take a long time to make." smiled Victini enigmatically "Work on your signature move again." he went back into the tunnels.

The prince of darkness muttered to himself. He figured he might as well. He almost had all of the pieces for assembling his greatest attack ever. The hardest part remained however: putting all the pieces together.

When Darkrai had proposed his idea for a new move to Victini, the fire rabbit had chuckled, chiding him for thinking move creation was easy. No, to invent a signature move was difficult to achieve and took years to realize.

_"You think it's that simple?" Victini had told him "Creating a new move is hard. Well, creating a new move is easy I suppose, the hard part is making sure it works AND works well. There are no shortcuts, and depending on how good you want yours to be it could take years to see results."_

However, once Victini had heard what Darkrai planned to do, the fire rabbit agreed to at least help. Darkrai had after all, already created two new moves in Apocalypse and Quasar Expulsion. The truth was that Darkrai had been actively trying to make a specific signature move for almost a year, but he told no one.

The original name for the move was "Ultimate God Killer" since the inception of the idea was to create a move so strong he would defeat his own mother and thus earn him the title of God. However, Darkrai realized the childish naming and recently opted for a new, better title to reflect his grown maturity:

**'Ultimate Hellfire Apocalyptic Absolix Demolishing Fist of DETH'.** He would make sure that anytime a book was written about his signature move, that they would always capitalize the DETH portion of the title. Also they had to bold it no matter what.

Once he perfected the** Ultimate Hellfire Apocalyptic Absolix Demolishing Fist of DETH**… then Absolix would be defeated for certain, hence the name. Gardevoir would be saved, and the title of God would be in the bag. Also, Lopunny would totally dig him once he was God.

Darkrai sat on the floor and quietly began to do some soul searching. While he sat there, Victini watched him proudly from a corner of the room. The fire rabbit sighed to himself happily.

Then, he quickly flipped on a human made phone "It's done." said Victini into the machine "You may do it now."

Victini folded the phone and walked away.

* * *

><p><em>"The truth about… Cipher!?"<em> the lunar swan asked telepathically.

_"Yes. What you've heard in the media and history books is partially false."_ replied the great fire bird Ho oh, _"And for a good reason…"_

"What does this have to do with Lugia wanting to…!?"

Cresselia couldn't even say it.

_"Suicide has always been the last resort of the plan. Lugia greatly fears that he…_

…I'll start from the beginning."Ho-oh said in a whisper.

* * *

><p><em>Flashback- Fifty years ago<em>

_In an archaic looking cave, two figures were perched on the floor. One of them was a much younger and smaller Ho-oh, the other was his big brother Lugia. The two were six years old and nine respectively, both had their eyes transfixed onto a series of paintings inscribed upon the walls._

_"See? I told you!" Lugia said to his brother. The white bird explained that upon these walls were countless stories of Legendarys and their triumphs. A record of Pokémon greater than they, long since passed._

_"I wanna be one!" shouted Ho-oh immediately._

_"Me too!" said Lugia, "But we'll need to be super ultra powerful to get in. And we need to never be evil EVER." said Lugia with the utmost seriousness._

_"R-Reawwy?" asked Ho-oh._

_"It's true. They're the force of good after all! They probably don't even ever let anyone who's done anything bad ever in!" said the fantasizing Lugia._

_Ho-oh began crying. Lugia asked what was wrong, and Ho-oh, through the tears said that he couldn't be a Legendary ever because of the fact that he ate an extra piece of chocolate that he wasn't supposed to._

_"Oh! Well…" Lugia bit his lip, trying to think of something "I'm sure that's not that big of a-"_

_"I'M BAAADDDD!" bawled the crimson phoenix "I DON WANNA BE EBIL!" he cried in between tears._

_"You're not! When I said evil, I mean thing that are really bad like uh… stealing! Yeah!" the small white bird Pokémon said. This only made Ho-oh cry even harder, considering the fact that he 'stole' another piece of chocolate on purpose._

_"H-Ho-oh stop crying!" Lugia shouted at once. The little phoenix stopped, but tears kept streaming out._

_"You'll be fine! Really! Okay?"_

_"R-*hic*Reawwy?"_

_"Yeah, I know more than you do so I say you can still be a Legendary if you want." said Lugia, using the older brother card to his advantage. This seemed to satisfy the child and he let out a small smile from his beak._

_"But we DO need to be more stronger." said Lugia in an assertive tone. After all, if they didn't become the strongest beings in existence, how could they join the Council?_

_Ho-oh and Lugia practiced their attacks and powers, maturing along the way. But amidst this time of growing, for Ho-oh there began a seed of doubt at the age of fifteen._

_The rainbow phoenix had quickly learnt something about his brother- namely that he was a paragon in every respect. Fighting came easily to him, as did studying elemental relations, sealing and even friends. Eventually it reached the point where Ho-oh saw his older brother as an insurmountable wall of which he could not overcome._

_"Dude, that's Lugia's brother!" he would often hear them say. Everywhere he went, he wasn't Ho-oh but merely 'Lugia's brother', almost as if he was nothing more than a tagalong to his older sibling._

_Lugia of course was aware of this, and reminded everyone that they BOTH would become Legendarys one day, not just himself. But Lugia was still just a Pokémon, and so he may have enjoyed the glory he brought a little too much around his brother._

_Ho-oh did not hate Lugia, never. But he did slowly grow to dislike being compared to him when the great swan was better at he in most respects. An inferiority complex grew within him as the gap between the two brothers widened further._

_And eventually, it was time._

_"Ho-oh!" Lugia practically crashed into their house, but swerved just enough to only hit the wall. Ho-oh, already outside, perched next to Lugia as the psychic held up two pieces of expensive looking paper:_

_"To whom it may concern,_

_In light of their recent actions involving several evil team disbandment's and overall good work towards society, it has been determined that __Lugia and Ho-oh__ are qualified to be tested on the grounds of the Hall of Origin. Should they meet the requirements of the tests presented, Lugia and Ho-oh are eligible to become Legendarys, and join an elite few of those seeking justice around the world._

_The testing begins this Friday, giving you four days to prepare. We wish you the best of luck._

_Signed: Arceus, Palkia, Dialga, Heatran_

_When Ho-oh examined the parchment his mouth dropped until it hit the ground. The fiery phoenix had no idea how the Legendarys were paying attention to them, but apparently their contributed effort on breaking up Team Aqua had gained notice._

_The two brothers quickly hugged each other. This was it: they were finally given a chance to show their stuff and prove themselves to be worthy of the title 'Legendary'._

_For three days they worked themselves to the bone to strengthen themselves for the upcoming test, then took the last day off in lieu of total rest. Lugia explained that this was the best way to prepare, since he saw it in a famous manga once._

_While Ho-oh was unsure about whether his skills were up to par, his older brother assured him that there was no way he could fail since he finally created his own signature move: Sacred Fire. And while Ho-oh knew that Lugia was the better of the two, he at least felt confident he could be a Legendary. Perhaps then, he could let this foolish jealousy vanish._

_The day arrived. The two great birds flew up to the Hall of Origin where they were told to go to floor three for the test by a man named Latioux. He led them into the training room where they saw God herself- Arceus._

_"Greetings, Lugia and Ho-oh." she said curtly "You are early. One moment…"_

_They realized she had something black stuck to her back, revealed to be a red white and black colored Pokémon. It was tiny and with its eyes closed, happily snoozing on her back. Arceus levitated him in the air and quietly warped the baby away._

_"Well now that that's settled…" she turned her attention back to the recruits, in awe of how easily Arceus warped space-time "Let us begin."_

_The brothers had no idea what sort of rigorous testing they would do. The testing always changed, and no one was allowed to breathe a word of what transpired within these walls, leaving them completely in the dark._

_Arceus spoke "For your first test, you will be fighting me."_

_Lugia blinked "…what?"_

_"For your first test, you will be fighting me." repeated God. The two birds were agape with fear._

_"But-but-but you're GOD!" Ho-oh retorted._

_"Yes."_

_"How are we supposed to win against you!?" Lugia argued._

_"Well it's two on one isn't it?"_

_"YOU'RE STILL GOD!"_

_But it was to be. Silently, Lugia whispered to his brother "Don't worry I've seen this before: she's just testing us to see if we're good, we don't actually need to beat her."_

_"Unfortunately I don't like clichés." Arceus had heard them "You must defeat me in combat or I kick you out. No exceptions."_

_The brothers gulped._

* * *

><p><em><strong>ONE GIANT ASSKICKING LATER<strong>_

_Lugia and Ho-oh lay on the floor, utterly defeated. Thankfully for the both of them, Arceus was kidding when she said they had to defeat her- she just needed to give them motivation to do their best. The two were then healed by Celebi and Manaphy, then brought into the written portion of the exam._

_The brothers were separated and taken to different rooms, where they began to fill out a questionnaire. It seemed pointless to the brothers, until Lugia figured out the real meaning behind the exam: that their thoughts were being read as they took the questions._

_"He figured it out." said Uxie in monotone, "The silver one, he knows we are reading his mind."_

_"Well then, make sure he doesn't cheat." said her sister Azelf, making a note of this on a pad._

_"Mn." Mesprit nodded._

_The brothers took the test, and Lugia never tried to cheat. In the end, both tests were done and the brothers were treated to an expensive looking meal while Arceus and the others looked at the results and discussed whether or not they should be Legendarys._

_Ho-oh had never been more nervous in his life, no matter how delicious the berries in front of them were. Latioux stormed up a one sided conversation with the quiet Lugia while keeping an eyes on them all the same._

_They saw a couple Legendarys walk past them; Dialga who nodded curtly to them before vanishing, Heatran, who clawed her way into the ceiling, Manaphy, who ate a little bit, and a new one: a grey and blue ice dragon who gave Ho-oh a wink before she left._

_"Oh that was Kyurem. New girl." Latioux explained "Don't tell Palkia she winked at you- dude has a major crush on the gal."_

_As he said this Arceus walked into the room. Latioux bowed once before zipping away, leaving the brothers in the overwhelming presence of God herself._

_"Are you ready to hear how you did?" asked Arceus once._

_"Yes! No! Yes! Wait… later!? No now!" Ho-oh could not make up his mind, the nervousy was killing him. Lugia merely nodded as a bead of sweat dripped down his face. Arceus closed her eyes._

_"Lugia…" she said to the young psychic, making him tense up "…we of the legendary council... deem you worthy to join us."_

_Lugia felt his heart shatter in the most epic way imaginable. Due to having no heart left he barely mustered up a cry of delight while his brain processed this incredibly important news._

_"Ho-oh." the phoenix had no time to congratulate his brother- Arceus was already on him "We of the legendary council…_

_deem you unworthy of joining us at this time."_

_The fire type held his breath. Time stood still as Lugia turned his head in astonishment. Ho-oh felt the greatest rage he had ever felt in his lifetime. Years of accumulated jealousy, shame and neglect that had filled his brain for the past twenty years began bursting out in this one defining moment._

_He had not made it in._

_Lugia had because he was better._

_"W-Wait a minute!" the usually quiet Lugia got very vocal "Are you saying that I'm in but my little brother isn't!?"_

_Little brother. That was all he ever was._

_"Yes. But don't fret- the issue with Ho-oh is but a simple lack of power. We can't just send our agents out into the world without a certain power requirement and Ho-oh does not meet it, unfortunately." explained the divine equine "But he passed the second test flawlessly, in a few years he can join you I'm certain."_

_A few years. A few years!? He could see the look in Arceus' eyes, she had only said that to make him feel better. He would never be as strong as his revered older brother, he would never be worth it._

_"Ho-oh did you hear that, you can join-"_

_"Shut up." the fire type finally spoke "Shut up."_

_"Ho-oh?"_

_"Looks like you win again Lugia. Good freaking job!"_

_Lugia finally saw all the jealousy his brother harbored towards him, by the hated expression in Ho-oh's light red eyes "You always have to be better than me, don't you!? Even to the point where you take away my chance at becoming a Legendary! Well you won you hear me, YOU WIN! Enjoy your new life!"_

_Ho-oh flew away crying. Arceus was shocked at this outburst, and Lugia was even more surprised._

* * *

><p><em>End Flashback<em>

_"You didn't make it in!?"_ Cresselia telepathically shouted. Ho-oh replied that he hadn't- and that it had affected him deeply. He told her that he genuinely hated his brother then and there- something he regretted even today.

_"Ho-oh… I'm so sorry."_ Cresselia gave him a hug to try and comfort him, but it did not work.

_"It isn't your fault Cresselia."_ said Ho-oh with pain _"It's mine… this entire ordeal is my fault. Damn it, I was so foolish back then! And now thanks to my mistake, I might even lose my older brother…!"_

_"Mistake…?" _questioned Cresselia _"What do you mean?"_

* * *

><p>"Where are you Mewtwo!?" Deoxys said to herself. Even with her electromagnetic vision, she couldn't tell where on earth Mewtwo was. Having been searching for an hour already, she landed on the ground. Exhausted mentally from using her telepathic abilities she leaned against a tree.<p>

"Mewtwo…"

Questions burned through Deoxys's mind, most prominently, Gardevoir. What did she have to do with Mewtwo's disappearance? Cresselia had explained that something about Gardevoir made Mewtwo become violent, even though that was only supposed to happen when Absolix was around.

It made no sense. He wasn't like this before either, the only thing different about Gardevoir from before was that she began dying the tips of her hair yellow, and hair dye certainly wasn't a viable explanation. And so the problem remained.

"Mewtwo!" she shouted

Suddenly, a presence made itself known. Deoxys whipped around and looked at the new figure "…You!" she shouted.

"Yep. We need to talk." said Zero through his Styler.

* * *

><p>Darkrai was in a meditative pose when they came in. The prince of darkness had sensed them, so as the three came in Darkrai stood up and opened his eyes.<br>New humans. One was a red haired female who exposed much of her skin, another was a yellow haired man who was large in stature, and the last was a blue haired human in intricate clothes. The three walked in unison, smiling and eyeing the dark type.

"And you would be?" asked Darkrai, having a feeling that they weren't allies.

The three pulled out their Stylers in synchronization, activating the translators in each of them "Hello Darkrai." said the blue haired one in an icy tone "Let us introduce ourselves."

"I am Heath!" said the yellow haired man in a strange accent "I am strong dark ranger, master of electric and steel type!"

"Lavanna." said the red haired girl "Fire and fighting are my strong suits."

"And I am Ice." said the blue haired one "Master of dragons and, as my name implies, ice types. Darkrai, we are the Sinistrio, the most powerful dark rangers in all of Team Dim Sun. We have been sent to capture you and the shadow crystal as well."

Darkrai smirked "Good luck with that."

* * *

><p>Kairi finally woke up. She had taken a large beating from the Societea and its demonic stunfisk, but she was still intact. Reflecting upon her wounds, the brunette examined her body in detail. The first thing she noticed was that she was in a healing pod that gave a soft violet glow.<p>

"Wow, when did they get a healing pod?" Kairi said out loud. Healing pods were very expensive, and for a good reason: her wounds had already healed and there wasn't a scratch on her. The girl was about to open the pod when it opened by itself. There, she saw Trueman and Dr. Alakazam waiting for her in the room she was in.

"You…!" Kairi realized how the healing pod was here.

"How did you like my healing pod? I trust the results are satisfactory?" said the doctor. Kairi could not understand most of his speech, but she got the gist of it by his expressions. Trueman came up and silently hugged her.

"The Societea?" Kairi had to ask.

"Well, one of them is in jail…" said Trueman "He said that he forced the other three guys to go along with his plan, and since I did… 'you know what' to them, the police were convinced he was right. But, I think the other three are good now so we don't have to worry."

Kairi sighed to herself pleasantly. Then her mission in Oblivia was done, the result was a victory and Pokémon nationwide could celebrate peace once again. Well, as peaceful you could get in a world where Absolix was alive at any rate.

"That's good." she finally said "And… did you ever get in touch with your mom?"

Trueman silently nodded his head. His mother was under the influence of Trueman's mental powers so she took it rather well, but the two had a heartfelt reunion over the videophone. He said they were preparing a ship for Kairi since Almia was still in danger and Calestia needed more backup.

"Right." Kairi wasn't too enthusiastic about more fighting. She gazed at her Styler strapped to her hips, remembering how she was able to use a Super Styler function, and even a makeshift Octagonal Alcatraz. She smiled to herself, pleased with how skillful she had become.

"Wait, where's Ruby!?" Kairi noted the absence of her partner.

"Actually, she said she would come in five minutes ago…" Dr. Alakazam mentioned "Hm, I'll go check on her to make sure-"

Suddenly there was a breach in the wall. It was quickly torn apart as something smashed through it, then crashed into Kairi and through the wall behind her.

Kairi gasped for air and even coughed up a little blood from the impact, went sent her rolling a ways until she managed to stop herself and get her Styler at the ready.

"You…" said her assailant, who stepped over some broken bricks to get closer to her.

"You… ruined everything!" shouted Mary Tzu in a hateful voice.


	25. Black Hole II

Chapter sixty one: Black Hole (Act two- Consequences of the Righteous)

* * *

><p><em>PREVOUSLY ON LEGENDARY PKMN:<em>

_"I'll have to go now, while I still have control…"_

_"Right now, as we speak…. Lugia is trying to kill himself."_

_"Darkrai, we are the Sinistrio, the most powerful dark Rangers in all of Team Dim Sun. We have been sent to capture you and the shadow crystal as well."_

_"You… ruined everything!"_

* * *

><p>The three Muskadeers stood guard over Meloetta. With all of Calestia gone, even Cresselia for some reason, they had to be more diligent than ever to protect their precious princess. That being the case, the three brothers had come up with a solid plan to not let their bad habit of wandering affect this vital mission.<p>

They would stay completely still. They would not move even a single centimeter. Even better, they had found some spare chains to tie all of them together with Meloetta so that they could not be separated. The green haired princess found this to be annoying.

"30 minute check!" Cobalion ordered "Terrakion!?"

"Here!"

"Virizion!?"

"Here!"

"Meloetta!?"

"Here."

Cobalion grinned "Excellent! No one's been lost and the princess is secure! This is my greatest idea ever!"

Meloetta silently played her Pokémon Green game in an attempt to stay less bored. They had standing there doing nothing for the past hour and a half. Unfortunately, the graphics to the game were so horrible to look at she had to stop after five minutes "Can we go and do something while we wait for everyone else to get back?"

"No! We have to stay completely still!" said the fighting steel type.

"Um, well what about Team Nova? They're still here aren't they?" Meloetta tried to think of some distraction. The three brothers realized that Team Nova was in the vicinity, in fact they were drinking tea with each other not five minutes ago. Occasionally they heard Dusknoir laughing.

"That's right! Safety in numbers after all. Let's go to Team Nova and gain their support." slowly, guided by Meloetta, they made their way to the outside open patio. There, they were greeted by an empty table and teacups. The three brothers shared questioning looks, but concluded they must have left in a hurry.

Team Nova would not be back for some time.

* * *

><p>Malispite and Mercifond had made steady progress in traversing Almia Castle. The abandoned royal complex had been turned into a maze of ice and snow. It was at least a bit warmer in here than the outside, but the endless searching was getting on Malispite's nerves.<p>

In a corridor they went, briefly connecting them to the outside. After maneuvering through thick sheets of ice the two bats had entered the true interior of the castle, where the white bat assured her brother that the stone was near.

"We're getting closer." said Mercifond, gazing upwards at the ceiling "It's somewhere up there but I don't know how to get up…"

"I'll punch the ceiling." said her brother in a gruff tone. Mercifond reminded him that this would be a horrible idea- the castle was so old that a powerful enough shockwave could cause an immediate cave in. Which, she reiterated, would make their searching ten times more difficult.

The brown bat grumbled, searching for a lever that did something useful. The twin bats looked high and low, until they found a doorway leading to the upper floors. It was blocked by ice, so Malispite and Mercifond quickly disposed of the barrier. Inside they found a small room leading to yet another area. Opening the door, they found themselves on another outside walkway but much higher.

"Look!" Mercifond pointed happily. Straight and to the left was a regal looking yet battered door leading to the back of the castle. The back was the last area to be searched of the castle and most likely to contain the jewel. Due to the literal mountain of ice that has the back of the castle locked up, it was impossible to get in any other way but here.

The twins opened the door and let themselves in. They were met with the sight of an untouched throne room, with shredded banners, candle sticks, gilded pictures and so on. A large, impressive looking throne was in the very back.

"It's probably here…" Malispite said to himself. He saw his sister was staring at a picture, wide eyed "Sis?"

"Malispite... look at this…!" she beckoned. The brown bat flew over and looked at what Mercifond saw: an old painted picture. The most prominent figure was a gardevoir dressed in regal clothing, surrounding her was the castle itself, some palace guards, and an equally royal looking probopass.

"_Queen Serenity Steele and Former King Steele, with Their Loyal Servants._" Malispite read the inscription "So?"

"Right there…" Mercifond carefully pointed to something in the background behind the soldiers "Do you recognize him at all?"

Malispite saw a black colored pokémon with a red collar and white flowing hair. Though the detail had been obscured, he could tell the pokémon had strange looking red and blue eyes-

Malispite froze.

"No way…" he breathed. It was Asmodeus. That thing in the picture was undoubtedly Asmodeus, or at least what he looked like when he was still alive.

"Wow. I wonder what he's doing there…?" said the white bat quietly "Then again he did mention a 'Serenity' once or twice."

"Wonder if he was friends with the queen?" Malispite wondered aloud. Mercifond disagreed; Asmodeus was cruel and ever scheming, no way he could be friends with royalty. More likely he was trying to destroy her and stalked her for that reason.

"Huh." Malispite wondered "Bet dad would know."

"Probably." said his sister, briefly thinking about him "Well, anyway let's find out where this thing is."

"You know I just realized; how is this room so bright when there aren't any candles lit?" her brother said in a moment of clarity. Pausing at this thought, the twin bats looked upwards. There, in the center of the ceiling, was a bright glowing crystal in the shape of blue teardrop.

"There it is!" shouted Mercifond happily "Let's take it and get back to the base!"

But before she could fly up, Malispite stopped her. Giving her brother a questioning gaze, Malispite told her that his DOOM senses were tingling, meaning somebody was watching them.

"How insightful of you." said a voice from the shadows. The figure stepped out of the darkness, hands glowing with golden blue aura. It was someone they recognized.

"You cannot take the crystal from me!" Lucario growled "For I am the main character, and so I cannot lose!"

"Oh great, not him… what are YOU doing here!?" Malispite asked in an annoyed tone.

"Protecting this luminous crystal," replied the blue jackal "because my employer told me to! This is my summer job!"

"Summer job!?"

"Some of us have to work you know…" stated Lucario "Anyway! I already failed my boss once by letting Kairi take the Holy Grail! So I will NOT mess up again for the sake of my weekly paycheck!"

"But we need it to save the region from doom!" Mercifond shouted back.

"I'm sorry Mercifond, but I will not budge on this matter, even for you." the aura pokémon closed his eyes. He told them to either get out, or experience pain. But before any of that happened, Malispite's brain clicked.

"What does he mean by, 'even for you'?" Malispite questioned his sister "Do you have like… a special relationship or something?"

The white bat and the blue jackal began to sweat. Lucario had made a convincing entrance, but accidently said something he shouldn't have at the last moment. Malispite could never know that he and Mercifond were in a relationship- he would kill them both in a berserk rampage. Or worse; Jello them.

"Uh, what he means is, is that we're rivals!" Mercifond thought quickly "See, we met up while you weren't around and decided that we hate each other! So we became rivals and hate each other! Did I mention we hate each other?"

Malispite thought for a bit. He placed a hand on his sister's shoulder "Alright, I understand. Since you hate him so much, I'll leave this to you. Take him down, Merc!" he shouted words of encouragement.

Mercifond laughed nervously as her brother stood back away from them. Lucario also didn't like the idea of fighting with his girlfriend, and began debating whether or not to go easy on her. Mercifond was facing a different conflict: she knew how much they needed the crystal, but could she defeat Lucario by herself?

"…fine then…" Lucario sighed "Mercifond, let us do battle. For the sake of my paycheck, I will not lose to you."

Lucario's ear twitched and a round sphere came out of it, which he caught with a paw. It was a shining red stone that neither of the twin bats recognized.

"I'll show you something my boss gave me, something new that will shock the world!" Lucario clenched his fist around the sphere, and it began glowing with a strange power. Suddenly the jackal was surrounded by a prismatic shield that warped and twisted around his body. When it was released, the bats were shocked.

Lucario had become just a little bit taller. His ears were longer and with a red tint, and his yellow coat now spiked backwards giving the appearance of a cape. The ends of his paws and feet were red, and black markings now covered his body.

"Mega Evolution." stated the empowered jackal, now many times stronger than before. Mercifond gulped.

* * *

><p><strong>MEANWHILE<strong>

Gallade and Gardevoir were surrounded by various characters from the Digimon franchise. All were wearing red tropical shirts and sunglasses, and each were holding in their hands a jamba juice. All of them were glaring angrily at the newcomers.

"Why won't you let us pass!?" Gallade shouted from the deck.

"Ya tink we'd let ya pass after ya stole from us!?" Agumon the orange dinosaur shouted back "No, give us back our idea and DEN maybe we tink abou' it!"

"What did we steal from you?" Gardevoir tried to reason with them. Agumon reached into his shirt and pulled out something square, then threw it at their feet. It was a copy of Pokémon X.

"…We've always had the fairy type!" Gallade tried to convince them. All the digimon slapped their faces and then yelled "NO! DE ODDA TING IN DIS GAME!"

"Other thing? What else did we introduce in this game that would make them-" Gallade stopped in mid-sentence. He looked on the back of the game and saw a mega evolved Mewtwo. The fighting psychic realized what it was.

"You… you're talking about mega evolution, aren't you?"

"Yuh-huh mon. Ya stole dat from us." growled the digital lizard dangerously "Give it back."

"Mega evolution!?" gasped Gardevoir "That's right! It's always been my dream to mega evolve one day!"

"BULLSH*T MON." Agumon glared angrily "Dat was invented like tree monts ago mon! You can't just recon ya series and expect it to work! It creates many-a-plot-hole mon!"

"Sure we can. Watch." Gardevoir calmly replied.

_FLASHBACK: Chapter 13_

_"Greetings one and all!" Spoke the creature. "I am Absolix."_

_Put it frankly, they didn't know what it was._

_"Ab…solix…?" Gardevoir slowly said. She never heard of that pokémon before._

_"Ah yes… Gardevoir." Smiled the white being. "I must commend you for seeing my true self from earlier"_

_"By the way when I become stronger I hope to be able to mega evolve." said Gardevoir inconspicuously._

_"Indeed." said Absolix "Good luck with that."_

_END FLASHBACK_

"Dat was stuuuupid mon!" said the orange colored cyber being "No one but-a no one is gonna give in to dat!"

Little did he know the viewers wouldn't even notice the difference because they were only interested in shipping Darkrai and Gardevoir.

"Any-a-way!" Agumon and the rest of his digital companions got into some deep stances "We are a-gonna destroy ya mons for ya crime!"

"We don't have time for this." Gallade whispered to himself "I didn't want to do this, but it looks like I have no choice." he suddenly produced a small box out of nowhere, confusing Gardevoir.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Something everyone never thought they would see again… and I'm going to use it as a distraction. Go!"

Gallade threw the box onto the sandy beach, which activated the machine and caused it to emit light as if it were a Poke ball. When the red light had vanished, something stood before them: a grinning Mewtwo.

"M-Mewtwo?" Gardevoir questioned "What the-? Why…?"

"Don't be fooled Gardevoir." Gallade gently took her hand and began sneaking around the group "That isn't Mewtwo.

That's Mewtwo's old personality."

Gardevoir gaped at her friend, then turned to the monstrosity slowly inching towards the confused digimon. She turned back to Gallade and whispered "You mean the Mewtwo created in 2008 when Cataclyptic didn't know how to write!? The Mewtwo that wanted to straight up_murder_ everyone!?"

"The very same." Gallade said quietly "Because the old Mewtwo was such a psychopath, Cataclyptic sealed him into a puzzle box, never to be released again. I happened to win the puzzle box in a game of poker with the Narrator."

**YEAH, DON'T TELL THE BOSS I DID THAT… I WAS UH, SHORT ON CASH AND WELL…**

"You can control him right!?" said the scared Gardevoir. Gallade looked at her.

"I can reseal him. But there is no way to control that thing."

The Mewtwo look-a-like brought out a knife from hyperspace and held it up. The confused Digimon eventually asked him who he was and what he was doing. 'Mewtwo' grinned in response.

"I'm going to harvest all your vital organs, rip you into shreds, AND THEN I'LL DANCE ON YOUR ASHES IN ECSTACY, WATCHING YOU BURN FROM THE FLAMES MADE BY YOUR OWN FLESH AND BLOOD **WHILE TOSSING YOU OFF A CLIFF INTO THE DARKEST DEPTHS OF THE OCEAN! ****WITH A LASER BEAM!**"

'Mewtwo' leapt at the frightened digital monsters. Drake went back into his boat and went safely out to sea, while Gardevoir and Gallade snuck past the bloodbath and into the volcano.

* * *

><p>Darkrai stared down at the three humans in front of it. Representing fire, ice and ground respectively, they were Team Dim Sun's greatest force- the Sinistrio, a group of dark Rangers.<p>

"Come, Rhypherior!"

"Froslass!"

"Let's do this Infernape!"

Heath, Ice and Lavanna each summoned their respective pokémon using some poke balls. From their belts there was a red light and Darkrai found himself surrounded by the aforementioned pokémon. The dark type crossed his arms as the three them brought out their Stylers.

Darkrai had fought Rangers before. Well, one Ranger, but he was the most powerful ranger in the known world so the dark type still had experience against dark Rangers.

He had quickly learned that when facing a Ranger, there were three ever present 'dangers' that they could wield to subdue pokémon. The first was their Stylers, which could loop around a pokémon and forcibly mind control them. The second danger was that these Stylers, thanks to new technology, could produce a Move accurately, albeit with less power than one used by a pokémon.

The third was standing right in front of him: their partner pokémon. And then of course, Darkrai was outnumbered three to one in this instance. Those were bad odds.

For them.

"Well I'd love to play with you, but I have to wait for the real threats to show up." grinned Darkrai, causing the Sinistrio to frown "Why don't you go back and get somebody who can stand a chance against me? I'll wait here."

Lavanna bought into the taunt "That does it! Infernape- Overheat!"

A wave of pure lava erupted from the fire monkey as it screeched a battle cry. The tidal wave of fire flew outwards to the four corners of the wide room. The rhypherior had to use protect to avoid a calamitous hit, while Ice's froslass was recalled, then sent back out when the wave ended.

Darkrai had avoided the entire attack by jumping onto the ceiling and leaving a Double Team copy to make them think he had been hit. By the time they realized this, Darkrai had already leapt downwards with a Dark Pulse Punch, slamming into the infernape and making it recoil backwards.

The fire monkey slowly stood back up and launched a flamethrower at Darkrai, while Ice sent out his Froslass and Styler to take Darkrai by his own means. The prince of darkness merely grinned at their efforts and launched a Dark Pulse in all directions, then a Shadow Ball at Ice's Styler, which dealt it some damage.

Darkrai's overconfidence was his undoing- he failed to see the rhypherior Dig from below and knock Darkrai down, while Heath looped around him a few times before Darkrai distanced himself away from his enemies.

"Ow…" moaned Darkrai "Fighting six guys at once is hard…" Darkrai tried to recall what Victini had taught him about fighting multiple opponents:

_"In a situation where your power levels are about equal, you have to make a situation in which you fight them one by one."_

Darkrai was in a closed space, and his enemies were good at teamwork. No chance of that happening unless he caused a cave in, but that route wouldn't work either since he might lose the shadow crystal.

"Oh! Idea." Darkrai grinned. He looked up and saw the three pokémon, as well as three Stylers headed towards him. He summoned up his Energy Potential, causing him to be cloaked in a purple aura. He sped away from the threats, and as he was chased he yelled his trump card:

"Double Team!"

Instantly the entire room was filled with Darkrai copies. The Sinistrio gaped, as the number of them ranged anywhere from dozens to hundreds. Their pokémon uselessly flailed about trying to hurt the real Darkrai, only to smash into a transparent illusion.

"Shit! Guys, use the Sinister Cage!" said Ice, wanting them to use a combination attack. Before they were able to start, Darkrai chuckled

"You think I'll just wait and let you think of a plan!?" he mocked. Instantly, all of the Darkrai's raised their hands to the sky, and a black and purple sphere came into their hands "DARK VOID!"

The Sinistrio had but a moment's notice to shield themselves with their Stylers before the room became pitch black. Thousands upon millions of Dark Void spheres surrounded the room, only a few dozen were real of course but it was impossible to tell which were. The pokémon belonging to the Sinistrio were caught up in the pitch black attack, and when the darkness lifted, they were asleep and in an energy sapping nightmare.

Darkrai stood in the middle of the three, a smile on his face as he used Dream Eater to drain the energy from the three pokémon, while at the same time causing them pain from being next to him while asleep. All of his minor injuries had already been healed.

"And now it's three on one." said Darkrai casually "I'll be nice and give you one more chance to retreat."

The Sinistrio were unaltered, remaining firm to the ground. That said, the three became a little nervous.

"I guess he did not defeat Zero for being weak hm?" the large Heath spoke to the group in his broken English. A murmur of agreement from the other two.

"Change of plans. Let's go all out now." Ice commanded the team "We must retrieve that crystal at all costs."

"Still not going to happen." frowned Darkrai "You guys want to take over a region? You have to get through me first. And as we've established, you can't."

"Fufu… perhaps." said Ice mysteriously. The blue haired man reached into his pocket and pulled out a radio transmitter. Before Darkrai could ask what it was, Ice had already spoken "We need backup."

A part of the cavern collapsed from set charges. Darkrai gazed up where the small explosion took place, and found that a part of the ceiling was exposed to the sunlight. The dark type steadied himself as something crashed down from the hole and into the exposed cavern.

It slowly unfolded itself, a four legged machine like entity with two arms, connected to the shoulders by electricity. It was yellow all over, with a tattered back cape around its neck, which was long. His face was obscured by a grinning, expressionless mask.

"…wait! You are-!" Darkrai flashed back to the time when he invaded Zero's STAG Beetle. During the raid, their first obstacle was this man! Though they had only met for a brief minute before he used Gallade to subdue him, Cresselia had told Darkrai all about him.

"The Toyman. Yes." said the mechanized voice "Remember me? We didn't meet for very long…"

"I do but… what are you doing here?"

"Well," Toyman stretched himself "to put it simply, I am here to ensure the success of the Sinistrio in capturing both you and shadow crystal. In this case, I shall take you on myself with the Sinistrio as backup."

"You got it the other way around!" Lavanna huffed "You're backup to us!"

"I don't care what you call it as long as I get paid." the bronze colored man sighed.

"Whatever." Darkrai finally spoke "I'll defeat you all either way."

"Such confidence." remarked the mechanized pokémon. He began typing some things on his arm "Let's see if we can get you to surrender peacefully. Perhaps these will convince you."

Instantly two more crashes were heard behind Darkrai. He turned around and saw two more holes leading to the sky, each made by carefully placed detonations. Darkrai widened his eyes as he saw two more Toyman's right behind him. They both unfolded themselves and placed themselves into position.

"Great…" said the annoyed Darkrai "You can clone yourself…"

"Indeed." replied the mechanical pokémon, encircling the nightmare being "Let us begin."

Three Toymen and three Stylers homed in on Darkrai.

* * *

><p>Kairi was on the ground, beaten and bruised. She was gazing at her attacker, Mary Tzu, with fierce eyes. Mary Tzu met her gaze with a look of pure hatred.<p>

"What… the… hell!?" Kairi gasped as she tried to sit up "Mary Tzu! What are you doing!?"

"What I should have done a long time ago." said the Sue in a dangerous yet beautiful yet whimsical voice "Dark Pulse!"

The black Styler that floated in the air zoomed on Kairi and performed a pulse of dark energy point blank. Kairi had reacted fast enough to shield herself with her own Styler but this was not the end. The very next instant, another Styler appeared in front of her and launched a light type Move at her- Ethereal Blast.

A laser beam of light energy blasted from the Styler, catching Kairi off guard and sending the poor girl flying until she landed on the ground. Due to the damage taken from the first surprise attack, and now the damage from this… Kairi's breathing had become ragged, and cuts appeared across her body. Nevertheless, she stood up.

"Why are you doing this!?" Kairi yelled.

"You know perfectly why!" shouted the infuriated Sue back. Roaring, she flung her light Styler at Kairi preparing for another Ethereal Cannon. However this time the beam missed, because a psychic pulse knocked it in the wrong direction.

"You stay away from her!" yelled Ruby, on her knees desperately trying to crawl towards her beloved partner. She had suffered enormous injuries compared to Kairi, there was even a trickle of blood coming from her mouth.

"I thought I got rid of… no matter!" Mary Tzu directed her attention back at Kairi, who realized what had happened "You did this to Ruby!?"

Mary Tzu met her accusation with a Dark Pulse from her dark Styler. Before it was fired, Kairi finally managed to summon her own Styler and knocked Mary's out of the way, which caused it to miss once again. At this point Mary Tzu was so enraged she abandoned her Stylers and lifted Kairi by the neck with the great strength that she had. Kairi began to lose oxygen.

"MARY!" It was Rand, who had arrived after hearing the blast "What are you doing!?"

"Making her pay! Stay out of it!" she pushed him aside with another strange power resembling telekinesis. Ruby summoned more strength and hit the rainbow haired girl with a Focus Blast from behind, causing a great deal of damage. With her grip loosened, Kairi gave her one kick before the both of them stumbled down.

"Why the hell are you doing this!? We're on the same goddamn side!" the brunette Ranger's vision was blurry and her body was disoriented.

"You ruined everything!" Mary Tzu stood back up and got her Stylers online. With a maddening yell, she pierced Kairi's ears with her crime: "I was supposed to save Oblivia! You were supposed to wait for me to return! But instead YOU do it even when it was MY RIGHT TO SAVE THEM!"

A disturbing silence filled the area. Everyone within hearing distance was shocked. Rand's mouth held open in a confused manner, Ruby had an expression akin to his. After some silence, Kairi finally blurted out the thing on everyone's mind:

"THAT'S what you're mad about!? Are you kidding me!? You just wanted the glory of it!?"

"No! I was doing it for everyone! You were the ungrateful bitch who stole what should have been mine; YOU were the one who was always jealous of me so you cheated and did all of this just to embarrass me!"

Her injuries didn't seem to matter anymore, Kairi's anger blocked all sense of pain "No. You don't even care that an entire region was spared from disaster! All you care about is whether or not you get the attention for it! You were always like this, you never gave a damn about others! YOU CAN ONLY THINK ABOUT YOURSELF!"

"SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!" screamed Mary Tzu in an unholy rage "YOU'RE WRONG I'M RIGHT! I'M ALWAYS RIGHT!"

Her two Stylers formed a V line with their bodies at either end, the point locked onto Kairi "So when I tell you to stay out of my way-! YOU DO IT!"

A fusion of light and dark encircled the V shape in the air, then fired a cataclysmic pulse of both light and dark energy at Kairi. The sheer piercing power of the beam was enough to cause a ten meter destruction onto the earth. Rock were simply blown apart, the ground cleaved in front of the blast- nothing was spared.

Save for Kairi. As Mary Tzu whipped around, she saw Dr. Alakazam, who had Teleported her out of the way "Aureen!" he shouted.

"Go! Heal Gun!" shouted his skitty daughter in the house. In her hands was a strange looking bazooka. When it fired at Kairi it did not hit her with bullets but rather what appeared to be a healing ray. The same treatment was done to Ruby, and the women had completely recovered from their previous injuries.

"Unfortunately I had only two bullets of those… I can't do it again!" said the Germanic mad scientist "You're on your own from here!" the doctor warped back to his daughter and ran away before either of the two could thank him.

Kairi and Ruby quickly faced back to Mary Tzu, who was glaring at them with the utmost hate. Without a word, the rainbow haired girl took off her power limiter.

"Normally I shouldn't do this since it hurts everyone around me… but in this case!" Instantly, she roared and became cloaked in a red and yellow aura. Her hair stood up on its ends, elongated and became spiky, completing her transformation into super saiyan 5. With her two hands, and clasped them together and a dark white light eclipsed the area "Demon and Angel Blood: Yin-Yang mode!"

The left side of her skin grew lighter, while the right side grew darker. Her left side had a red eye while her right had a blue one. She had become a living embodiment of dual opposing forces, on top of being super saiyan. Then, as a final transformation, she transmuted her arms into Palkia's, her legs into that of Dialga's, and grew shadow tendrils on her back akin to Giratina's.

At this point, Kairi realized her powers were indeed not made up. The being that stood before them was stronger than anything Kairi had faced before. Nonetheless, she and Ruby stood firm- despite being horribly outclassed, they would have to defeat her.

"Ruby…" Kairi said to her partner "…get ready."

The ground cracked beneath her feet. Air distorted around her "This my combined transformation: God Mode Tzu." said the rainbow haired girl dangerously "Nothing has ever survived this form…"

Faster than the speed of sound, she tore open the air around her with a punch that shattered dimensions. Kairi would have been instantly KOed if not for Ruby, who had grabbed her and swerved her out of the way at the last second.

"…what?" Mary Tzu asked in a questioning manner "Did you just dodge my Broken Fist!?"

She tried it again, zooming at the speed of sound towards Kairi and Ruby with a punch that would shatter dimensions. Once again Mary Tzu's fist tore apart space and time with an epic burst, but once again Ruby had dodged it and taken Kairi with her.

"Your evil intentions are as clear as day!" Ruby said in an accusing tone "Those telegraphed punches don't mean a thing!"

Kairi gave her a questioning look, wondering how a punch at the speed of sound could be telegraphed. Mary Tzu meanwhile just got angrier. She lifted her hand to the sky, and distortion took place around her hand "Then take this! Roar of Ti-"

Ruby launched a Psychic directly at Mary Tzu's hand, which knocked the palm off balance and the technique, a blue beam of destructive energy, flew into the sky.

"H-How did!?" Mary Tzu gaped.

"And don't even think about trying to use the Kamahameha! I'll just dodge it again!" Ruby shouted. At this point, Kairi realized what was going on.

"Ruby! You're Telepathy ability!"

"We can work on my ability later, for now she's about to throw a right hook combined with a Spatial Rend!" Ruby warned her partner. In that instant, Mary Tzu dissolved her Spatial Rend technique, growling in frustration that her plan had been discovered.

"Ruby, you're using it! You're really using it!" Kairi smiled.

"I am? Hey I am! I CAN READ MINDS!" Ruby then Teleported herself and Kairi away as Mary Tzu launched several beams of energy at the two of them. Once again Kairi and Ruby were unharmed because the blue psychic had predicted it.

"This might give us the advantage we need…!" Kairi realized. With Ruby's ability to see through Mary's plans, it would be possible to create a counterattack. The brunette shouted at Ruby to keep close, and get them out of danger.

Fed up with all this dodging, Mary Tzu unleashed her full prowess: At super speed she launched several Spatial Rend attacks, Shadow Forced her way through other dimensions, used psychic powers and used her insane strength to tear open the ground with her bare hands.

The brunette Ranger and her psychic partner used the Teleport ability to its fullest. Forming a wordless link with each other, Ruby's ability caused her to dodge every single technique while Kairi took care of the rest by making a shield from her Styler.

Finally Kairi's stalling paid off: with a bright beam of light her Styler transformed into a Super Styler, which increased the power of Kairi's shields. The two went on the offensive.

"Ruby fire at a blind spot! I'll cover you!"

"Blast Burn!" Ruby launched a Focus Blast right at Mary Tzu, who, enraged, knocked it out of the way and fire a beam from her mouth in retaliation. Kairi shielded the two from the attack, and Ruby launched a Psychic from above which slammed the rainbow haired girl into the ground.

Mary Tzu willed herself back up and lashed her shadow tendrils in every direction, but Kairi's Styler was faster still. With her formidable skill, the brown haired Ranger protected both herself and Ruby from attacks. Ruby fired countless Psychics at her, but it seemed to do little damage against her high defense.

"I have a plan…" said Kairi, who had finally thought of a way to defeat her. She communicated to Ruby through Telepathy, who nodded and made herself Teleport out of sight. Mary Tzu noticed this strange behavior "Where'd she go?"

"Mary Tzu! You claim to be better than me at everything, but I know that it's not true!" shouted Kairi. This got her attention.

"I, Marriland Singapore Raven Sparklight Le-blanc Ariari Nina Tzu am the best at everything! You can't even compare you worthless excuse for a human!" retorted the infuriated Tzu.

"Okay then, prove it." Kairi challenged "You see my Styler here? It's in super mode now- a state that can only be done when your heart is selfless, a power that arises from the need to protect pokémon!

Let's see you do it!"

Mary Tzu paused, but bought the bait. Effortlessly she lifted her discarded Legendary Styler with telekinesis and put it on her arm. She focused her willpower onto the Styler and it zoomed out and about, but it wasn't in its super mode. Mary Tzu tried again and again, but only succeeded in raising her power level.

"You, who can only think about yourself, can never reach this state." said Kairi.

At that point Mary Tzu lost it. Faster than Kairi could blink, she closed in on the distance between them and grabbed Kairi's neck, then crushed it with her special distortion powers gained from the three dragons "SHUT UP! I DON'T NEED TO DO IT!"

Kairi lifted her head, much to Mary's surprise. It was then that she noticed there was a psychic field concentrated on Kairi's neck, which prevented nearly all of the damage from the Sue's powerful grip "Actually yes, you do. It's our duty as Rangers to protect pokémon and solve their disputes. You should be striving towards that instead of raw power."

"You're wrong!" yelled the rainbow haired super saiyan, who threw back her shoulders and prepared a piercing Shadow Force.

"Octagonal Alcatraz."

It was then that Mary Tzu, in a split second, saw the image of an eight pronged symbol above her head. Kairi had been preparing it since the initial taunt, and now it was done. It slammed onto Mary Tzu's entire body and draped her in a blinding light. Mary Tzu released her grip and stumbled a bit backwards.

"How the hell did you use Zero's technique!?" spat the Sue "It doesn't matter, you're an idiot for thinking that would work on me! I'm not a pokémon!"

And then Mary Tzu fell down. For some reason, her muscles did not move. The best she could do was shake a little. Kairi stood over her and replied "Actually, yes. You are. Remember?"

_Flashback_

_"I happen to be half demon, half-angel, __half-pokémon __, half-robot, half-pirate, half-ninja, half-royal, half-commoner and half-neko."_

Mary Tzu widened her eyes. The pokémon half of her had succumbed to the might of the Octagonal Alcatraz.

"I figured that since you were only half pokémon, it would take a great attack to subdue you. So I bided my time and waited for the right opportunity to use Zero's technique." explained the brunette. Ruby reappeared as Kairi turned her back and began walking.

"Learn some humility." were her final words.

Mary Tzu refused. She refused to lose to Kairi, to admit she had won. Mary Tzu denied the truth with all her might, and in her rabid screaming a red energy surrounded her, causing her power level to go off the charts.

Kairi and Ruby whipped around for another go- Mary Tzu was standing up, looking at herself. The purple tattoo across her left arm was glowing.

"This… must be my bloodline ability." said Mary Tzu "The one my parents tried to kill me over…"

She looked up at Kairi "Would you like to know what it does?"

"No." a second Octagonal Alcatraz was fired at Mary Tzu, and the blanket of light returned to pin the girl on her knees.

But this time, Mary Tzu stood still. She chuckled a bit, and Kairi realized that the attack had no effect at all.

"My bloodline ability is called Overpowered." smiled Mary Tzu "It lets me utilize the full power of my mixed heritage… but without the weaknesses of each one! Only the strengths!"

"No way!" Ruby cried.

"And even better!" she was full on grinning now that Kairi had no way to stop her "In addition to all of that… it increases my strength ten times over!"

Before Ruby had the time to act, Kairi was punched in the stomach with a concussive blow, then Ruby soon after. The two flew straight back, the air gushing out of them as Mary Tzu laughed in ecstasy

"I am invincible! I'm always right and you will be punished for your insolence!"

* * *

><p><em>"Mistake?"<em> asked Cresselia _"What do you mean?"_

Suddenly, a rip in space time appeared next to them, shocking Ho-oh and Cresselia. What emerged from it were two dragons- one was a purple and white dragon-water type, and the other a grey and blue ice-dragon.

"Palkia! Kyurem!" Ho-oh shouted, turning around to meet them.

"Arceus sent us. I'll make a warp bubble for us, so get next to me." said the spatial dragon, preparing his technique. Kyurem flew up to Ho-oh and exchanged information. They had been sent by Arceus to take back Lugia.

"And already I don't like it." said the ice dragon "Lugia is supposed to be a class Four right? Why did she send all three of us to deal with him?"

Cresselia looked at Ho-oh, who bowed his head from sorrow. Palkia became quiet. Finally, the purple dragon asked Ho-oh to relay the truth.

"What you know about the Cipher incident is a lie." spoke the phoenix as a warp bubble encompassed them "All because of me, we face a possible earth shattering crisis that has been kept a secret for the past ten years."

"What the…?" Kyurem blurted out. She turned to her mate "What does he mean, Palkia?"

Before Palkia could respond, Ho-oh told him to concentrate warping them. He would tell the story himself. Palkia obliged, and activated their mode of transport: a spatial rip that allowed quick teleporting via bending space. It teleported a rate of about a fourth of a kilometer per second, but it warped every single second so long as Palkia concentrated. Due to the fluctuation in space, the group had easily tripled the speed Ho-oh was initially going.

With that done, Ho-oh began his tale.

"I was furious that I had been rejected." said the great bird "I… I had never felt so mad before. I stormed out of the Hall and left the house."

* * *

><p><em>Flashback- 13 years ago<em>

Ho-oh had been living on a deserted island for two years now. Not once did he contact his brother or the Council during this time. He told himself he was better than them- that's why even if he wasn't affiliated with the Legendary Council, he would still do good deeds here and now in secret.

He had survived this long by using the Sunny Day technique to make the weather always pleasant for a fire type like him. The fruits and berries on the island were abundant so there was no shortage of food. For water, just use Rain Dance in a small area and collect the water- which was never too energy costly since the sea was frequently heated and clouds formed constantly.

Isolation had made Ho-oh tougher, but did not take away the bitterness he felt towards his older brother. A pelipper delivered the news to him in secret, and occasionally he would spot Lugia, often being praised for his ability to handle a new situations.

A newspaper that came only a month ago stated that Lugia had been classified as the world's strongest psychic, and he had taken it as his title. With all the secret deeds Ho-oh had accomplished, it was never enough for him. No matter how much good he had done, his brother was better still. Lugia had even aided in an operation to take down a group called "Team Aqua", Ho-oh had merely saved a village from a tsunami.

Ho-oh was waiting for his chance. One of these days, he would show the world who he was. He would do something so incredible that Lugia wouldn't be able to compare to him. That was all he wanted, yet he had no idea how to go about doing that.

His biding would eventually pay off. Two months after Lugia had gotten his title, there was a shocking report in the newspaper one morning. And it was perfect.

There was a group called Cipher. Possibly the vilest evil organization to crop up on the planet, they had done what no other group had done before: they had scared the Legendary Council.

How? Cipher possessed a shadow crystal on their secretive little island. Somehow, using the technology that humans were famous for, they had used their shadow crystal as a power source for a great machine: The Shadow Maker. What did the Shadow Maker do? Something that no one had even thought possible.

It could corrupt pokémon. It could rob them of their emotions and turn them into mindless slaves. It got worse: using the same dark technology, they caused the pokémon subjugated by this to have a permanent adrenaline rush. This had the effect of powering up these new 'shadow pokémon', at the cost of their overall lifespan. Because of this, Cipher had created an indestructible pokémon army, and they demanded that Hoenn, the closest country, surrender to them or it would invade with their powerful forces.

This was the third time they had appeared, and Ho-oh could tell that these guys weren't pushovers. He knew because the situation had just gotten dire:

Kyogre had been captured. While innocently patrolling the seas one day cipher hit her so hard and so fast with their mind controlling technology that it was over before the great whale could react. With the guardian of the seas under their command, Cipher seemed unbeatable.

"My chance…!" Ho-oh breathed "This is it…! I'll rescue Kyogre! I'll even defeat Cipher as a footnote- I'll prove myself worthy of the title 'Legendary'!"

Ho-oh flew off his island and located Citadark Island after hearing many rumors and maps. He made a small encampment around a hundred kilometers from Citadark and began planning his invasion. He would catch them by complete surprise.

"I'm going to do it… I'll finally be… Legendary." smiled the phoenix.

After three days of careful scouting, it was time.

Ho-oh attacked the complex in a blaze with his Sacred Fire technique. The attack had been so out of place that the grunts of the island were instantly scrambled: before they could even use their shadow pokémon, the fire bird had already roasted them.

His surprise did not last forever though- eventually Cipher got their act together and retaliated.

"Go! Salamence!" said a man dressed in red, sending out a salamence cloaked in shadows. The dragon type slashed at him with claws of draconic energy, then started to rampage in a frenzy of violence when that didn't work. Ho-oh dodged the claws, and used his supreme mastery over flight to wear out the salamence's Outrage attack- then he went for the opening.

Ho-oh saw the dragon becoming dazed and swooped in with Brave Bird, which knocked it out in one hit. Thinking he did a good job, he looked around and saw many more higher end humans, each with their own special shadow pokémon to control. Ho-oh realized that the man before was just buying time, and cursed to himself when they launched a myriad of high powered Moves at him.

The phoenix dodged the brunt of the attacks but was shocked with lightning and blasted with water regardless. Injured, he fell to the floor but did not give up: Ho-oh summoned his energy and created a massive Sacred Fire that encompassed the area. This served to give him cover, and the bird escaped, flying back into the sky.

"This'll be harder than I thought, those shadow pokémon are something else…" Ho-oh was shocked at these abominations; they had no emotions and were strong enough to make him flee.

He saw something from the clouds. Below him, in the sea surrounding the island, he felt an immense power. Immediately after sensing this, a flash of blue came up and a blast of water erupted from the spot and nearly destroyed Ho-oh. Water Spout.

"Kyogre." Ho-oh grimaced. He could tell her aura was off- another effect of the shadow process. Ho-oh then grinned "They saved me the trouble of finding you!"

More Water Spouts erupted from the water's surface as Kyogre continued her onslaught of powerful geysers aimed at Ho-oh. She fired them so frequently and so fast that Ho-oh was diverting all of his energy just to avoid the whale's attacks. He knew he was weak to water, so even taking one of those could be fatal.

_"How do I do this…?"_ Ho-oh questioned _"I can't hit her while she's in the water, and by the time she surfaces then she fired another Water Spout!"_

The cracks of his plans were beginning to show as Ho-oh tried to think of a solution to defeating and freeing Kyogre from mind control. Now, he did have a plan in mind when doing this: the fire flying type had a luminous crystal around his neck. He figured that if the luminous crystal could absorb the 'darkness' from the sea whale, he could cure her.

He had planned on defeating her before then to prove his strength, not to mention have a higher chance of it working, but it looked like she was too strong. Ho-oh decided amongst the Ice Beams and Water Spouts that he would have to try the crystal now and hope that it would work.

The white rock was sizable, around the size of a basketball, giving off a soft glow. Ho-oh clutched it with his beak. He would have to take a risk.

The instant Kyogre's shadow became visible on the ocean's surface, Ho-oh used Brave Bird and dove. Closing his eyes and bracing for impact, the bird felt it when Kyogre launched a water spout directly hitting him. But Ho-oh worked through the pain and kept diving, his streamline body propelling him to the water pokémon's noggin, where Ho-oh used his Move and hit her with a Brave Bird combined with the luminous crystal in his mouth.

Ho-oh gasped for air only to be met with water. Frantically he flew upwards until he had reached the surface and desperately gasped for oxygen. The luminous crystal had broken apart in his mouth. The water was silent. Ho-oh tensely looked around, not knowing what to expect.

Suddenly a figure rose next to him, Kyogre. She surfaced just behind him and the fire bird was open for an attack. Fear gripped the bird as he turned around.

"Did… did you free me just now?"

Shock replaced fear. Then, satisfaction. He grinned widely "Yes, that was me. I used a luminous crystal to set your mind free."

The sea whale quickly hugged him, nearly drowning her savior underwater, and promptly asked what had happened and where she was. The fire bird explained the recent events of the week, including Kyogre's capture. He told her that he was in the midst of infiltrating the Cipher stronghold, to put an end to this once and for all.

"Understood. I'll call for backup-"

"No!" Ho-oh shouted "I mean… I can do this on my own. I'm stronger than I look."

Ho-oh burst from the water and his rainbow-like aura shone "Sit there for a little bit and give your mind a rest, I'll take care of everything!"

The great bird flew back towards Citadark Island before Kyogre could speak.

The phoenix knew that he could take down the rest of Cipher. Without Kyogre, they had only normal shadow pokémon. With a Sacred Fire, Ho-oh once again razed the stronghold with his holy flames. He scattered the grunts, defeated the admins, and defeated the pokémon they sent at him.

But he had overestimated himself. He had been greatly injured during the fight with Kyogre, and he should have taken a rest. He didn't, and as a result, all it took was one hit. One random hit from a stray Bubblebeam sent him tumbling to the ground. He got up as he cursed from the pain, only to be hit with another attack. Then another, then another.

Cipher had gathered an entire army of pokémon, and now each and every one of them was out to get Ho-oh. Their sheer numbers and above-average strength overwhelmed Ho-oh the instant he was hit. Move after Move hit him, a constant barrage of strikes. He had not the vitality to retaliate, and soon realized he was horrendously outmatched when their onslaught did not cease.

_'No!'_ Ho-oh mentally screamed. With a rush of energy he flew away and fire a Sacred Fire, only to be instantly attacked from behind and brought back to the floor, where he was bombarded yet again. This time Ho-oh could not resist, he lay there limp, too injured and beaten to even scream from the pain. He realized only just now he hadn't a chance from the beginning.

Eventually, they stopped attacking. By that point the once great bird could not lift a single feather, and it was only by sheer willpower did he remain conscious. He was approached by an old male human, who said something to him in human-talk. The man snapped his fingers, and Ho-oh's wings were clipped with iron braces, his body raised up off the ground, while he winced in pain.

The man began laughing as he talked to his admins. Soon, a machine was brought before Ho-oh, a large ray gun shaped device. They aimed it, and it struck his heart with a cold black ray. This did not hurt him at all, but he already knew it was bad.

"Let the corruption process… begin!" cackled the leader.

Kyogre had seen most of it from where she lay, 'getting rest'. The instant she saw Ho-oh being beaten she contacted the council, informing them of the details.

_"And you say that very same pokémon is now in trouble!?"_ questioned Arceus from the other end _"Understood, I'll send Rayquaza. Tell me what this friend looks like so that he doesn't raze them like the rest."_

"Oh well um, he's kind of handsome. I mean, he looks like a giant red bird with gold feathers for a crown, a green stripe across his belly-" Kyogre was suddenly interrupted by a crashing noise, followed by a frantic voice on the other end that wasn't Arceus':

_"What!?"_ shouted a new voice on the other end _"I'll be right over there! Arceus, warp me now!"_

_"Lugia I think Rayquaza-"_

_"That's my brother over there Arceus!"_

Silence. Then, Kyogre felt space-time ripping apart in the vicinity. Using Palkia's spatial powers, combined with Arceus' own incredible divinity, a wormhole from the Hall to here was instantly created, and out flew a silver bird.

"Lugia!?"

Lugia never even heard Kyogre shout. All that was in his mind was his precious sibling, which, thanks to the holes within the Cipher lair, he could see was being tormented by some sort of ray gun. Losing it, Lugia bellowed in a primal fury and blasted everything to bits with his Aeroblast attack. The whirlwind whipped up a vicious storm which paved a path to his brother. Without a moments delay he ripped off the braces with his psychic powers and grabbed Ho-oh.

"Hang in there Ho-oh! I'll get you out of here, I'll-"

Lugia was then shot by brother in a Flamethrower attack. Lugia took the full brunt of the attack, and the titan bird fell backwards. The silver bird got back up, eyes wide. Ho-oh was covered in a maddening purple aura.

**"I don't need… your help!"** Ho-oh shouted, giving Lugia a Sacred Fire attack in response. Lugia shielded himself this time, but still gaped his jaw at what his brother had become.

Ho-oh had developed some resistance to mind control over the years, but he could not handle this level of brainwashing. When his training had took effect, he wasn't completely brainwashed by Cipher's machine. Instead, it brought out all of his negative emotions then multiplied them with the help of the shadow crystal.

**"Go away!"** shouted the phoenix in primal fury, launching Fire Blasts from every direction and angle. Lugia's agility and psychic shield made it possible to avoid the damage from his brother's high powered attacks. In the midst of combat, he read the minds of a human doing something suspicious from a computer.

_"We have no choice, it's now or nothing! I have to use the XD machine on the fire bird! He will probably die like the other subjects, but now that Lugia's here I don't have a prayer unless I get a new superweapon!"_

Lugia's eyes widened at this news as Ho-oh upper cutting his brother with his beak. Another Brave Bird later and Lugia was on the ground.

"Ho-oh we have to get out of here now! They're planning to kill you!" shouted the silver bird.

**"NO! I won't let you tell me what to do any longer! I have power now, more than you, and now I won't be living in your shadow any longer!"** Ho-oh launched a Fire Blast from his mouth so big that the entire complex was burned to ash. Lugia had developed another psychic shield, but his eyes were wide when Ho-oh clenched him up with his talons.

Face pressed against his, Ho-oh gave Lugia the most malicious look he had ever seen **"You won't be better than me any longer! I am Ho-oh! I will defeat Cipher and prove once and for all that I'm-"**

Ho-oh's speech was interrupted by Lugia giving him a great hug. The fire bird's talons dug even deeper inside Lugia's skin, but Lugia did not let go. Even as Ho-oh thrashed about, Lugia stayed put.

"Ho-oh. I'm sorry I made you feel that way." spoke the silver bird softly "I… I trained harder than you. Harder than anyone else. That's why I'm strong. And the reason I did so is… is so nothing would happen to you.

Ho-oh stopped struggling, finally looking at his brother eye to eye.

"You're my brother! I… I just wanted to keep you safe…" said Lugia "I never meant to show off, I never meant to keep you in my shadow. I just wanted the only family I had left to be at ease."

In that instant, Ho-oh flashed back to two gravestones. On a sandy beach in the middle of nowhere, there were two pokémon: a silver bird and a golden one. Each was staring at the two graves, crying loudly.

_"I… I swear I'll keep him safe mom and dad!" Lugia cried "I'll never let anything bad happen to him! I won't!"_

A whirring sound made Ho-oh switch back to the present. Lugia's eyes became serious "I swore I'd protect you then… and that has not changed!"

Without warning Lugia flipped Ho-oh and himself so that their positions were reversed. It was now Lugia's back that lay directly in line with the strange machine the leader of Cipher had been setting up. In an instant, an unholy dark beam shot from the new machine and struck Lugia's back.

When the machine made contact, all lights in the room suddenly went off. A darkness overtook the area unlike anything seen before. The full power of the shadow crystal had been unleashed- so much that the formerly black colored rock was a transparent white.

The shock of Lugia's action was enough to make Ho-oh regain his senses and dispel the negative emotions within himself. He got back up, dazed from the effort. He could not see, but no longer felt his brother.

"L-Lugia?" stuttered Ho-oh "Brother…?"

He gaped.

A blackened version of his brother stood in the center of the room. A single feather from his wing shot itself into the Cipher's leader, killing the man instantly. Lugia turned around and faced Ho-oh.

His eyes were blood red. A look of otherworldly malice was upon his face. For a brief instant, the fire bird felt absolute fear.

Suddenly the color returned to his face. It spread, until his body was white again. Lugia appeared dazed, but let out an audible gasp when he realized his feather was stuck inside a dead man's body. He shook him off, then looked at himself.

The machine had done something to him. Something never seen before.

"…Ho-oh. Let's go back to Arceus. I'll get… this looked at." said Lugia quickly. The fire bird nodded his head.

"Lugia, I'm sorry."

Lugia turned to him and smiled "It's fine. Big brothers are always forgiving. Now let's go, I feel funny."

That should have been the end of it. But it wasn't. When Lugia checked his condition, Arceus and the other old Legendaries did not have a clue what it was or how to treat it. Even luminous crystals did nothing against this overwhelming darkness.

They enlisted in the help of a human, agent Coder of the secret agents. Upon thousands of medical tests, Coder wasn't able to find a single cure. Something like this had never existed before. The secret agents were forced to conclude there was no cure.

A mere week after the incident with Cipher, Lugia had lost control again. He destroyed Mossdeep city in the blink of an eye before returning to normal. Arceus had to cover up, saying it was an attack by remnants of Cipher. Lugia shook with fear every night, wondering when he would turn next.

* * *

><p><em>End Flashback<em>

Cresselia and Kyurem were agape with mixed emotions. Shock, awe, betrayal, confusion, anger, sadness.

"He… Lugia…" Cresselia tried to say the words.

"We received his last message." said the space dragon gruffly "He last message was telling us he would turn into that monster at any moment, and that there was no cure. Lugia decided long ago to not make anyone suffer from his curse- in the event that a cure was never found, Lugia would kill himself."

"Why didn't anyone tell us this!?" Kyurem was enraged "Why didn't Arceus-"

"Lugia was a hero." Palkia interrupted her "How do you think the public would react if they knew he could turn into a genocidal monster at any moment? And that he destroyed an entire city without so much a thought."

Kyurem paused as she absorbed this knowledge.

"The resulting panic might have gotten Lugia killed already. The trust in the Council would be severed, which means we would be hindered once another crisis came by." Palkia explained "So we told no one. We lied to save Lugia."

"In the end it only bought us time." Ho-oh grimaced "My brother…"

"So then… so then what do we do?" asked Cresselia in a soft voice. Ho-oh turned to her.

"We capture Lugia. We put him in isolation until something can be done."

"And that's why we're all gathered here." Palkia explained, "I'm a class Four. Ho-oh and Kyurem are both high end class Three's, plus Arceus said Rayquaza was already there. And the final piece of the puzzle is Cresselia. Since it's been proven that emotions can snap him out of it, Cresselia could be key in bringing him back alive."

Kyurem realized the implications behind her boyfriend's words "…how strong are you saying Lugia is right now?"

Silence.

"We know that when Lugia turns… that he could be a class Five or above." Palkia breathed "We have to pray he's a lower end class Five like Coder told us. If we fought him…"

Class Fives were practically gods compared to everyone else. It was no wonder so many high end Legendaries had gathered for the sole purpose of bringing Lugia back- one misstep and the sixth Great Destruction could be imminent. Two class Three's and two class Four's… was it possible to take down a class Five with these odds?

"We're here." Cresselia's train of thought was interrupted as Palkia evaporated his warp sphere. The four jumped down onto solid ground. Cresselia recognized this place from her history books.

Citadark Island. The place where it began. And perhaps ironically, the place where it would end.


	26. Black Hole III

Chapter sixty two: Black Hole (Act three- Shadow Era End)

* * *

><p><em>PREVOUSLY ON LEGENDARY PKMN:<em>

_"I'll have to go now, while I still have control…"_

_"You… ruined everything!"_

_"Change of plans. Let's go all out now."_

_"Lugia decided long ago to not make anyone suffer from his curse-_

_in the event that a cure was never found, Lugia would kill himself."_

* * *

><p>Blake Hall sat in his darkened office, watching his computer intently. Though the feed was fuzzy, he could get images of the fight between Darkrai and his Sinistrio. Toyman had just been brought into the fray, and all his forces were after the prince of darkness.<p>

"To think he was this strong." Blake mused.

"He's even stronger." said a voice from the shadows "Which is why I need you there as well- once Darkrai defeats Toyman, then you have to control him with your golden armor. Only then will he be subdued."

"Remind me mister…" Blake trailed off, not remembering his name.

"Just call me Escodia." grinned the figure.

"…Mister Escodia. Why on earth would I need to appear in person with my primary weapon when clearly my men have the situation under control?"

"Because that was our agreement, remember?" replied the silhouette in the dark "My conditions may be strange, but it is all necessary for the ritual to commence."

"Ritual?" Blake raised an eyebrow. The figure waved at him.

"None of your concern. All you need to worry about is perfecting that tower of yours. I will happily lend you my power towards your goal of world domination, but only after my conditions have been satisfied."

"Hmph." Blake snarled at the big shot "If Darkrai takes off Toyman's mask, then I will consider flying there personally."

"Fine. Just be ready when it happens." and like that, he was gone.

"A legendary council member, hm?" Blake mused to himself. He wondered what the agenda of that man was. It was clear this 'Escodia' had a plan in mind, but what it was he couldn't be sure. Blake Hall did not trust this man, which is precisely why he had taken countermeasures against the pokémon.

Escodia thought he was all powerful? Power meant nothing next to undying subservience. And with the golden armor around Blake's body slowly taking over the mind of the pokémon, he would be Blake's slave before long.

He cared not about the agenda of that man. In the end, Blake Hall would stand atop the heavens themselves once the tower was completed.

* * *

><p>"Zero!?" Deoxys spoke "What do you want?"<p>

Zero looked at himself, eyes blinking "Oh... I thought I had shed this disguise already. One moment..."

Like some sort of paint, Zero's form began to melt off of himself, until what remained was a golden ribonian who looked like he was built for speed. Cytosine of the Four Stars. He had taken the form of the world's most feared human in order to not draw attention from other pokémon, until he got to Deoxys.

"Cytosine." said the red and blue psychic.

"I need to talk over with you." said the gold colored man "…I'm starting to wonder if you may be right."

"About…?"

"Arceus…" said Cytosine, "Our hated enemy, the one Helix will destroy… and yet you vouch for her innocence."

Deoxys blinked. She had her evidence- none of what the ribonian massacre did added up. Arceus clearly felt anguish from murdering two billion of them in cold blood, and hated the fact that it turned her best friend into her mortal enemy. Plus, what Giratina had said about secrets… it was clear that the God had more of them than anyone else.

"I haven't found any new evidence since I've been away from the Hall for so long… but I'm working on it."

"That's what I came to talk to you about." said the rational minded Cytosine "I found something..."

He beckoned Deoxys to sit as he telekinetically summoned some old logs for them to sit upon. Cytosine had a confused look in his eyes, and when Deoxys pried he told his story.

"At first I thought you were insane. But I was curious. So giving you the benefit of the doubt, I did some research on Arceus…" said the golden colored alien "…You know how she destroyed us, right?"

Deoxys blinked. She didn't "No, must be my old amnesia acting up."

"She destroyed us with her greatest attack- Ultimate Judgment…" said Cytosine "An attack so powerful that the sheer energy of it warps space-time in its vicinity. It destroyed nearly a tenth of our planet, about the size of the country Unova."

"…" Deoxys waited. Cytosine looked downwards.

"…I decided to visit the blast site. You know how her attacks work right? They get concentrated into a specific area. At the epicenter of the site, there is a huge hole that goes down for kilometers. I went down it to do some exploring." the gold alien paused "I don't know what I was looking for, but I found it. Look."

Cytosine tossed Deoxys something. She caught it and glance downward- it was a badge. The badge was rusted and old, silver in color with an X on it in the shape of an unwound helix.

"I'm sure your amnesia makes you forget… so I'll tell you what that is. That's a Xylph badge. As in, Xylph, the evil organization that used to control half the planet before your mother took over..."

Instantly Deoxys clutched her head. The name Xylph was bringing back more of her memories. She remembered herself in history class on Ribos. She was only fourteen years old.

_"__There used to be a terrible group called Xylph." explained her teacher as Deoxys wrote down notes "They had conquered half the planet with their technology, and were always seeking to conquer the other half. The fact that they were so powerful was one of the reasons our Supreme Queen went to Earth- because the Earthlings may have been able to help her."_

_A couple comments from others- saying how going to Earth was a huge mistake because of the massacre. The teacher told them to be quiet._

_"Xylph was an elitist organization. In reality a few hundred members reigned supreme over the one billion members of their group. They mistreated their group horrendously- performing experiments with the Berserkgene to create an army while sacrificing sanity would be merely one of the terrors they wrought._

_They fought with our side, then known as Clinolim, frequently. They rarely listened to reason and so peace was often unstable. Finally, after many years of this off and on war, a final confrontation was staged. At the country of Myrri, a vast army by the Clinolim around two billion invaded to finally find the Xylph base and put an end to their atrocities._

_… it is not known where the base was, since the Clinolim never found it, but what is known is that two days after invading, Arceus, the God from Earth, launched a horrendous attack against us. It wiped out everyone indiscriminately, Xylph and Clinolim alike. The country of Myrri as you know, is nothing but a charred wasteland thanks to her."_

"I remember…!" Deoxys was sweating as the memories flooded her brain "The Xylph! Myrri!"

"Good. That makes my explanation shorter…" Cystosine said "I found that badge while I was down in the hole. And you know what else I found? The Xylph base."

Deoxys' eyes were widened "Yeah, I found the secret base that our ancestors couldn't find after looking for thirty years. Turns out it was deep, deep underground the entire time. It's all trashed now, but there are about one or two structures still standing."

"…What are you trying to say…?"

"…After looking at maps a dozen times, I realized a shocking conclusion: The epicenter of Arceus' blast was the Xylph organization's base. Do you realize what this means…? She shot her deadly attack directly on top of the Xylphs…!"

The girl's eyes became wider. There was only one thing this could mean: Arceus didn't choose a random location for her attack. Instead, she had picked the exact location of the Xylph heartland, and struck there.

"She was… aiming for the Xylphs…!?" Deoxys knew that this was the only conclusion after all Cytosine had done. The golden alien lowered his head "That's the only thing I can think of… it's too much of a coincidence that the brunt of her attack landed directly at the Xylph headquarters.

She was aiming for them all this time… and our own guys just happened to be in the way…"

This in and of itself was a shocking truth. Arceus, from what Deoxys had known, was a careful and deliberate person who hated the idea of unnecessary sacrifice. She had to have known she would have killed billions of ribonians on that day. And yet she still chose to do so. Why?

There could only be one answer. Something had scared Arceus. The Xylph organization, for whatever reason, had scared Arceus into murdering two billion under some sort of threat.

But what could possibly scare a God?

Deoxys didn't want to know the answer to that question.

* * *

><p>"How the hell is he still going on!?" yelled Lavanna above the conflict. The dark type had diverted all of his power to being speedy- as such he was dodging literally everything that they threw at him.<p>

Even with three Stylers and three replicas of Toyman attacking him at once, the prince of darkness had evaded mostly every blow. Here and there he would occasionally attack their Stylers, but the damage was minimal at best.

Considering his level of skill this wouldn't have been surprising, except for the fact that he had kept this routine up for thirty minutes. He should have been exhausted by now, yet he continued to defy them with every step.

"Indeed, how can he still be this fast?" Toyman mused, launching a Coil Cannon from his arm at Darkrai. The electric attack fazed right through him. Another Double Team Clone.

"DARK PULSE!" Darkrai shouted, bringing his palms together and blanketing the room in black. The attack hit everyone, but was too weak to do any real damage. The Toymen resumed attacking, firing off Discharges just to hit Darkrai even once. Unfortunately, one of them actually hit, which paralyzed Darkrai for a split second.

"Attack now!" Ice commanded "Sinister Formation!"

Akin to Zero's Octagonal Alcatraz, the Sinistrio could utilize a multi-Styler attack to subdue their opponents. In this case, combining all three of their powers they formed a triangular symbol above the ground, then slammed it into Darkrai. While this occurred, the three Toymen each launched Coil Cannon's from their arms to aid the Sinistrio, resulting in a massive concentrated attack that hit the prince directly.

An explosion of debris was shortly followed, then all was quiet. Eventually the dust settled: Darkrai lay on the ground, unmoving.

"We… we did it!" Ice smiled "We took down the man who beat Zero!"

"Hah! In the face!" Heath grinned. The Toyman quickly observed Darkrai's EP: it was less than a thousand, meaning he was unconscious.

"Excellent." one of the Toyman said "He's out cold. He put up a good fight, but sadly there were six of us and only one of him."

"Get the spare pokeball, we'll take him back to the tower." commanded the blue haired dark ranger. As the three pulled out pokeballs, a thought occurred to the Toymen: why did Darkrai last for so long relying on nothing but speed?

Now that they had free time, they scanned the area looking for clues. They then saw something curious: a faint trail of energy leading from the three unconscious pokémon the Sinistrio had brought, leading to Darkrai himself.

"The three pokémon that were knocked out earlier?" one of them asked. Suddenly it hit them all at once. It was a trap.

"Go! Poke-ball!" Lavanna threw the spherical device at Darkrai just as the Toymen screamed not to do so.

Before the poke-ball reached Darkrai, he leapt out of its way straight at the Sinistrio. First was Lavanna: Darkrai quickly crushed her Styler with his bare hands and then lightly tapped her, bringing the girl into a nightmare. Ice and Heath began to react, and Darkrai shot precise Shadow Balls at their Stylers, blowing them across the room and crushing them as well. He then touched both Ice and Heath at super speed, and the two were out.

Darkrai stood over them, staring at his remaining opponents the Toymen.

"My word…" said the mechanical pokémon, gaining new respect for Darkrai "…you used the three pokémon from before. You were sapping their energy whilst they were sleeping with a Dream Eater attack!"

"Yep."

"And then you purposely lowered your power level to fool us into thinking you were unconscious."

"Bingo." Darkrai had learned something else from Victini: that he had a knack for controlling his EP very well. With training and learning to be more efficient, Darkrai was a master of his own energy- lowering it was a simple task.

"My. You have vastly improved." murmured one of the Toymen "Sadly I've just cancelled the effect of your move with a seal, you won't be draining their energy any longer. And with the three of us, you are sure to lose."

"About that…" Darkrai began "see, I've found out that humans are really frail. Literally one tap and they're out cold. I don't like killing people, so I've had to suppress my powers so that I wouldn't accidentally send them into a yearlong nightmare, or worse."

"…what are you saying?"

"I've been holding back." in an instant, Darkrai's fist had penetrated the armor of the nearest Toyman. The blow send cracks throughout the upper body's protection, and soon his chest armor was crushed leaving nothing but wires and microchips.

"I still am, since my sister wants you to join the Council." Darkrai looked down, his fist had not made contact with anything resembling skin or fur. In short, this Toyman was a robot. Darkrai sent a wave of energy through the machine and it was sent flying into the cave until it collapsed from being broken.

"Y-You!" Toyman shouted nervously. The two of them fire off Coil Cannons at Darkrai, but the massive electricity was simply absorbed by Darkrai's Dark Void. He then zoomed up to another Toyman "What IS under your mask?"

Darkrai ripped off the metal mask, only to reveal that it was a generic robot archetype. Then, the Toyman literally exploded. The blow was so unexpected that Darkrai took the surprise attack dead on. The second Toyman then attempted to imitate the last: it too was detonated but this time Darkrai was able to run away fast enough.

On the wall directly opposite, Darkrai heaved. His body was bruised, but not too bad.

"So what the hell, he was a robot this whole time? How does that mean he can't join us!?" asked Darkrai angrily. Only silence answered him. Cracking his neck a bit and sighing, the prince of darkness made his way over to the shadow crystal, where he stood next to it and promptly sat down. It had been defended.

"And where did that bastard Victini go? I sure could have used his help this time!"

Suddenly the cavern began to collapse. All around a rock slide took place, sending boulders coming down this way and that. Darkrai realized that their battle must have caused a cave in, so he quickly formed a Dark Void barrier around himself and the shadow crystal, as well as the three humans.

The upper layer of the cave collapsed for almost a minute when Darkrai looked up, he saw a giant gaping hole where the ceiling was. The sky was clearly visible, Darkrai ended his attack.

And then, something fell down: a gigantic automaton, red and silver in color. It had six legs and two arms, it held a double sided lance in both. A pair of eyes lurked behind a grinning mask.

"…whoa…" said Darkrai, in a rare moment of awe. The thing was almost two times bigger than him in terms of height, and much larger when length was considered. It probably weighed more than three tons.

"Let's try this again." said the voice in the suit or armor, no longer mechanical "I am Toyman. I was hired by the Sinsitrio to defeat and capture you. As of this moment I will begin to get serious with you."

"Bring it on." Darkrai said defiantly, "But if I win, then you take off your mask."

"…" Toyman was silent "No one can see my face…" He pointed his lance at Darkrai and charged. Darkrai summoned a Shadow Ball and charged back.

* * *

><p><strong>BOYLELAND VOLCANO<strong>

With Mewtwo's old personality distracting the Digimon (distracting = murdering), Gallade and Gardevoir were able to sneak around and enter the volcano.

Inside the heated, still active volcano, the two psychic types made their way through the maze of boiling lava. Helping each other explore, the two walked further and further down the chasms. Without much difficulty, they arrived in the hearth of the volcano.

It was a simple layout, a singular path leading to an island surrounded by lava. In the center was a dais created by humans long ago. And atop the ancient piece of architecture was the luminous crystal itself. In the shape of a typical fire symbol with red coloring, it glowed magnificently in the dimly lit area.

"There it is." said Gallade, "Let's take it."

Unfortunately, one rumbling later and from the pierced ceiling fell an orange colored digital monster. In between them and the crystal, its glasses were cracked and its mouth in a terrifying frown. The two psychics tensed.

"You… you messed wit' de wrong monsta's!" Agumon growled at them "Ya tink we'd be defeated by jus' dat!?

"Well it was worth a shot." spoke Gallade. He looked downwards and saw a 'full' sign on his pokeball like contraption, meaning 'Mewtwo' had been defeated.

"YA WILL BE DEAD! DIGIVOLVE!" suddenly Agumon was enveloped in a bright white light. The circling light spun around his form until it shattered off, revealing a much more fearsome monster:

Agumon's transformed state was much larger, and orange in color except for carbon black armor around his head, arms and legs. He had digivolved to the powerful Greymon. The terrifying five meter tall T rex glared at them angrily, but the two psychics were unafraid. Gardevoir summoned some light swords from thin air, and Gallade extended his blades and took up a defensive stance.

"You think that scares us?" Gardevoir asked rhetorically "Compared to nearly losing Darkrai to Kurades, that means nothing!"

The digital tyrant said nothing and instead roared, which activated yet another transformation; the white light came back and encircled him, causing him to obtain another new form. This time when the light shattered, he had turned into his Ultimate form; Wargreymon, a massive winged tyrannosaur with armor all around his body. Cannons sat atop his head, wings and forearms.

"…Th-that's still not scary!" Gardevoir laughed nervously "No matter what you change into, you'll never make me back down!"

In response yet another transformation occurred as he digivolved to his Digi-Ultimate form. This time when he emerged from the chrysalis the digital monster was ten meters tall, with twin wings and missile launchers on his back, covered in blackened armor. Laser cannons were on every side of his body, even his spines were composed of laser cannons. Now called Mega wargraymon, his roar shook the entire volcano, resonating with his ultimate power.

"…Okay this is getting really old, not to mention cheap!" Gallade had to say it "We only mega evolve once, but you've done it like three times now! That's stupid!"

**"****IT IS NOT!"** bellowed the massive dinosaur **"****Just for that I'm going to do it again!"**

And once again Mega Wargreymon digivolved to another more ferocious form. Now as his Digi-mega-ultimate-hyper-hybrid form, he was at 15 meters tall, covered from head to toe in every single weapon invented by the human race. His wings were made from laser cannons and revolvers, his arms from nuclear warheads and assault rifles. His legs were made from intercontinental missiles and pop guns. He had now become… Ultra Gearsofmodernwarwithblood7mon. Ultra Mon for short.

"…Okay now you just look silly with all those weapons." Gallade had to say. Having no more forms left (we hope), Ultra Mon decided to finally attack his arch enemies: the tyrannosaur cocked once which loaded all of his 4,444,444 weapons, then aimed all of them upon the two pokémon.

"Shield us!" Gallade shouted. Gardevoir formed a Light Screen shield just as he fired all of his deadly arms upon the two psychics. With the shield distracting him, Gallade swerved around the rocks and stones, leaping to and fro until he had reached the top of the cavern. Straight above the digital monster, Gallade focused his energy to his arms and fell as a Swords Dance was created.

"Close Combat!" immediately before he hit Ultra Mon, Gallade raised his fists and began pounding on the digital monster's head with several concussive blows. Ultra Mon stopped firing and roared in pain as Gallade kept his attack coming. One Close Combat fist after another slammed into the blackened beasts head, causing him to recoil.

Seizing the opportunity, Gardevoir leapt up and fired the biggest Psychic she could at the body of the machinated monster, while at the same time using Thunder Wave to freeze his legs to the ground. The result was as expected: gravity took effect and with the blows from the two psychic hitting him so hard, Ultra Mon fell down.

Gallade and Gardevoir landed back on the ground and paused for an instant to see if it was done. It wasn't, and they were nearly hit with a stray missile.

**"****You guys will pay for dat!"** the metal man got back up and began firing laser beams at them. There were about a dozen in total zooming from his fingertips and wings. Gallade and Gardevoir danced around avoiding contact with these flesh piercing blasts while at the same time Ultra Mon stepped up his game. For a brief instant, all the laser beams stopped firing.

**"****Take this- DIGI ULTRA LAZER DETONATION BURST!"**

The nest second, everything went blue as Ultra Mon fired off laser beams from every single facility of his body, aimed at every direction at once. It was an unavoidable attack, and Gallade and Gardevoir found themselves overwhelmed in an instant. The laser blasts hit their bodies and they screamed from the pain, while the other lasers hit everything around them. Rocks fell down, only to be incinerated by the lasers, the ground quaked from the release of power, everything seemed to be in chaos as Ultra Mon's attack continued for a solid minute.

When it was finally over, Ultra Mon saw that Gardevoir had yet again formed a shield around herself and Gallade. However they were injured from his attack, as the shield only came in the last thirty seconds of the move. The shield collapsed and Gardevoir with it.

**"****Ya canno' win ya stupid knock offs! Digimon are superior to Pokémon in every way!"**

"No they aren't!" Gallade said defiantly, helping Gardevoir back up "All you guys do is speak in a Jamaican accent and add Digi to the beginning of everything important! Plus all you guys have names ending in 'mon' and that's lame!"

**"****NU UH, we do NOT add Digi to everything! Just the Digivice, the Digidestined, the Digi world, the Digimon, the Digidrink, the Digivolution, Digipads, Digiplanes…"** Ultra Mon paused.

He fired off more laser blasts at the duo. This time Gallade reacted in time and with Gardevoir in hand, ran up the walls by leaping on top of rocks. They needed to regroup and think of a plan.

"Not good, not good!" Gallade cried as he dodged the missiles, laser beams and bullets.

"Gallade, I have an idea!" Gardevoir said, getting off of Gallade and dodging with him "We have to hit his weak point!"

"What weak point!?" blared Gallade, "All I see are shotguns and nukes!"

"No I mean- he's a digital creature right? That means he's steel typed right!?"

"…uh…"

**"****I AM DATA TYPED!"** roared Ultra Mon in rage.

"Okay so he's Data typed! What's supereffective against that!?" Gardevoir tried.

"Uh…" Gallade could not think of anything "Wait, I remember something! One day while I was playing computer, I punched it and it broke! That means he must be weak against attacks that do a lot of damage!"

"So in other words, his weak point is us hitting him harder!" Gardevoir smiled.

**"****DATS DA STOOPIDEST TING I EVA HEARD! DERE'S NO WAY IT'S A-GONNA WORK!"** said the relatively smarter digital creature.

Gallade and Gardevoir responded to this accusation by charging up their attacks and hitting the machine with everything they had. For Gallade it meant Swords Dance boosted Close Combats to the belly, while Gardevoir used her light powers to both blind and assail Ultra Mon with swords. Unable to react to this assault, the two psychic put their psychic powers together by joining hands.

"Psychic!"

"Psycho Cut!"

A massive Psycho Cut formed in front of them, then surged towards Ultra Mon by a Psychic. The digital monster was instantly hit with the blade of psychic energy, cutting him and making him fall backwards from the sheer impact it had made.

"Let's get him before he comes up again!" Gallade shouted.

"R-Right!" Gardevoir replied, they two zooming in on the monster.

**"****DAT'S… ENOUUGGGHHH!"** before the two psychic launched their respective attacks, Ultra Mon launched several dozen missiles at them. By remotely detonating the weapons, he managed to deliver severe blows upon the two psychics.

This time, they were hit harder than ever before. Gallade sprang up, but immediately cringed from the backlash his body gave him. His partner Gardevoir was shaking, trying to get up but failing. Gallade ran over to her, working his way through the pain "Gardevoir! Gardevoir get up!"

Ultra Mon extended his body, transforming himself into a monster composed of as many weapons as possible, loading them all in a rapid fashion. Gardevoir was on the ground, lamenting her weakness while Gallade tried to think of a way out of this.

Suddenly, he saw something on the ground: a small, spherical stone. Teal, pink and grey in color, it shined with magnificence. Previously buried deep beneath the earth where it was formed, Ultra Mon's attacks had caused it to surface, and just in time for their salvation.

A Gardevoirite. A mega stone.

"Gardevoir!" Gallade immediately snatched the precious stone and hurried over. If Gardevoir could mega evolve, then they still had a chance "A mega stone, please Gardevoir, use it!"

The green and white psychic, with what little strength she had, reached up and grabbed the stone from Gallade. She had been preparing for this her whole life "Mega… evolve!" she shouted.

A strange colored light surrounded Gardevoir. Enveloped in its brightness, a shield formed around her, then disappeared in an instant, where Gardevoir was revealed.

She had not transformed.

"Wh...What?" asked the female psychic in a hesitant voice. She had gone through all the motions, she had even activated the stone. The stone responded by trying to transform her… and it didn't work.

**"****What are ya' doin over der?"** Ultra Mon asked **"****Whateva, I'll attack ya' now!"**

He launched dozens of missiles at the two green psychics. Gallade was the only one who could move- he furiously shouted for Gardevoir to transform as he single handedly blocked the missiles. While Gardevoir tried to change, Gallade used his fencing prowess to knock most of the missiles away. Some of them still hit, and Gallade was near unconscious from the effort. He collapsed on his knees, but still gave a defiant glare.

**"****Ya tink ya can still win!?"** laughed the abomination a few meters ahead, **"****I've ben charging all my weapons wince da beginning! In T-minus one minute, ya all is gonna be blown ta bits!"**

Gardevoir had activated the mega stone three times, and yet she was still in the same form as always "How…? Why!?"

And then it struck her why she couldn't transform. Now that she had thought of it, a foreign power had been blocking her transformation at the last second, because a part of her wasn't a gardevoir at all. Her light powers… her mysterious abilities to manipulate light energy were making it so she could not mega evolve.

"Gallade… my light powers…! I can't do it!" Gardevoir shouted.

**"****T-minus 45 seconds! But let's send some more missile at ya!"** Ultra Mon fired more missiles at the pair, and Gallade widened his eyes as he realized he could not move.

So Gardevoir did. She leapt in front of Gallade and shielded him from harm as 26 missiles hit her. She was protected by a last minute Light Screen, but it did hardly anything to lessen the damage.

Gallade shouted in agony, and Gardevoir gave him one last smile before fainting.

Ultra Mon laughed at their peril. Gallade, in desperation, grabbed the mega stone from Gardevoir's hands "Mega Evolve!" he screamed. The mega stone rejected him. He wasn't of the gardevoir genus, so the searing energy pulsed painfully within his hands and dropped to the floor.

Gallade bit his lip and picked it back up "MEGA EVOLVE!" again, the stone rejected his genetic makeup and again the searing pain in his hands was back. But Gallade did not give up. He screamed from the pain it caused him, but he kept trying to activate it.

"You listen to me!" Gallade shouted at the mega stone, its energies becoming increasingly volatile "My friend is in danger! I'm similar enough to a gardevoir aren't I!? So you will obey me!"

The stone refused to yield, harming Gallade even more. The pain shot through his entire body as Ultra Mon counted ten seconds until they were wiped off the map. The noble fighting psychic hung on "I won't lose her! Not here, not now, nor ever! You will give me your power and I will win!"

**"****FIRE!"** laughed the digimon. At that very instant, a thousand missiles, laser beams and bullets were fired all at once from every orifice of Ultra Mon's body. The sheer size and scale of the assault blinding everyone in a flurry of grey and red. Everything that Ultra Mon had his sights set on was obliterated instantly.

The side of the volcano, five meters thick, was turned to dust in an instant. The ground became cracked and broken. The shockwave from it all was enough to cause a miniature eruption from the volcano, spewing lava in a few places. Ultra Mon looked at the carnage and frowned.

**"****That'll teach ya ta mess wit us."** he said to his deceased opponents. The fog began to clear.

Gallade stood over Gardevoir, having protected her throughout the entire ordeal. His arms had become immensely thick and silver colored, forming an impenetrable shield around both himself and his beloved.

**"****What!?"**

Gallade's arms began to shrink, and his form was revealed. He stood slightly taller, and was now clad in armor. His chest, shoulders and lower half of the legs were protected by the sturdiest of steel. Gallade's forearms had turned into giant gauntlets, and even his hair had turned grey as a result, resembling a helmet. A blue ring surrounded his amber eye.

By some fluke, be it Gallade's impressive will to protect or the fact that his species were genetically identical to Gardevoirs, Gallade had succeeded in mega evolution.

Gallade slowly walked up to Ultra Mon, as the latter began to frantically fire everything he had upon the transformed mega pokémon. Gallade either ignored it outright or blocked his projectiles. Soon enough, the steel type was face to face with the digimon.

"This joke has gone on long enough."

With one punch Gallade sent Ultra Mon flying back to his own universe. His single punch shook the very foundations of the air and delivered a cataclysmic blow to the stomach of the machinated monster. Gallade had so much power behind the blow that he even shocked himself once Ultra Mon was out of sight.

Immediately afterwards, Gallade's transformation receded. With a light, he was back to normal. He found the small mega stone clenched in his hand. Gazing at it for a moment, he turned to Gardevoir and gently woke her up.

"Hey… we won." smiled Gallade, "Let us get the gem."

"…okay." smiled Gardevoir "…thank you for saving me…"

The male psychic gave her a warm smile in return. He picked up the injured Gardevoir and carried the girl upon his back. Then, he walked towards the flame shaped gem.

* * *

><p>Mercifond was face to face with her secret boyfriend, now turned into a mega pokémon. Somehow, she would have to defeat Lucario without Malispite's help to retrieve the teardrop shaped gem on the dais.<p>

The white bat stood a good chance in Lucario's normal forme, but now that he was a mega… the odds were not in her favor.

"Stand down Mercifond." warned her boyfriend, "I need a steady job, and I can't let you ruin it."

"Not even if the fate of the world were at stake?" she replied.

"If it were, my boss would tell me to hand it over. He hasn't, so no." said the blue jackal calmly. Mercifond's sources on the other hand, indicated that there was danger. However, Lucario was strong. This begged the question: could it be that they could just leave this gem to him? Surely with the other two in their possession…

No… they needed all three to inactivate the shadow crystal. She had to do it.

"I'm sorry." Mercifond leapt with her wings towards Lucario with an Ice Beam in hand. She fired it, but the steel type ignored the hit and struck her back with a Bullet Punch attack. Making it clear that she had to do this, Mercifond summoned her energy "Angel's Defence!"

Soothing blue symbols surrounded the white bat and covered her body. Now that her defensive abilities had exponentially increased, she charged back again. Mercifond engaged Lucario in close combat. Lucario actually used Close Combat while Mercifond fired off Ice Beams and Dazzling Gleams from her body. The clash was thirty seconds long, before it became clear to Lucario that his girlfriend was hurting him, but he wasn't doing anything back.

He leapt backwards and summoned his golden blue aura "Aura Sphere and Adaptability- Mega Sphere!" he shouted, then mixing his own Adaptability ability in the mix, the sphere grew twice as large and twice as powerful, with a golden color. It was launched and Mercifond crossed her arms expecting to take the hit.

She did, and it the attack injured her more damage than she expected. But the assault wasn't done just yet, Lucario then zoomed next to her with a Bullet Punch attack, followed by a swift Blaze Kick which sent her back. The combo ended with a super powerful Aura Storm attack, all of which hit Mercifond directly.

The white bat got back up, but she realized just how much of an advantage Lucario held over her. As soon as Angel's Defence wore off, she would be completely helpless to his attacks. Additionally, he possessed an uncanny speed advantage, which did not give her many openings.

_"__Ah wait… I have that…"_ Mercifond thought to herself. During her training with Dusknoir, she had learned one new attack that may be able to help her now.

She concentrated her energy, and as expected, Lucario was on her in an instant.

"Close Combat!" he roared, pummeling her with a series of high powered fist blows. Mercifond stored energy inside her body, and at the last moment unveiled her new attack:

"Counter!"

Using the force of Lucario's own blows, she had stored its energy inside her and built it up until it could no longer be contained. She struck the blue jackal with a force rivalling that of her brother: a punch that caught the jackal off guard and sent him flying into the opposite wall. With a loud boom, Lucario painfully made contact with the cold ice.

"Ah…!" Lucario growled from the injury, slowly standing back up "I had no idea you could do that…"

"Oh! That's the technique those two aliens used against us!" Malispite recalled Adenine and Thymine back when the ribonians had invaded Earth. Mercifond nodded her head, after seeing an attack that powerful, she wanted to learn it for herself.

Lucario was fully stood now, but out of breath. Nonetheless this did not stop him: "Mega Sphere!"

He immediately launched a huge and fast ball of aura straight at the white bat, who thankfully avoided it. She and Lucario engaged in combat once again, this time with Ice Beams and Flash Cannons. Lucario had learned his lesson to not get in close with Mercifond to avoid her deadly Counter.

However Lucario was proficient at long ranged combat while Mercifond had revealed her trump card too early. As Malispite watches silently, he saw his sister become overwhelmed with the sheer amount of attacks Lucario could produce and Mercifond helplessly taking them blow by blow. Her Angel's Defence couldn't have much more time, she needed to strike now.

Realizing this, the white bat concentrated cold energy within her mouth, then rushed in. Lucario responded by leaping away from her and that was her cue- Mercifond unleashed the ice beam directly at Lucario's feet, freezing them together and making him drop.

She then launched a point Blank Dazzling Gleam on him from her hands. This was not enough- Lucario's enhanced strength made breaking the ice easy. His enhanced durability let him take the fairy attack with minimal damage, and then he struck the surprised white bat with a Bullet Punch to the stomach.

Mercifond gagged and her Angel's Defence fell. She staggered backwards, having taken the first real blow during the entire fight- and Lucario had made it count. Mercifond bared her teeth and held back her fist in preparation to go again-

Her brother's hand firmly stopped her.

"That's enough sis." Malispite said "He clearly outmatches you, going on would just prolong the inevitable."

"What!? But-" Mercifond wanted to prove her strength, "My Chosen One necklace!" she realized. Mercifond lightly touched the golden band upon her neck "Heal!"

A beam of light crashed down painfully onto Mercifond's head, causing her to fall over.

"…You did good Mercifond, it's not like you're weak or anything," Malispite gently explained "But this isn't a life or death situation, this is a fight with your hated enemy: and you've clearly lost. Just get stronger, and don't be down since you lost to a MEGA evolution." shrugged the brown bat. He turned to Lucario.

"But we still need that gem. So as unfair as this is, it's my turn to fight." said Malispite. Mercifond grumbled, but admitted he was right.

"Hmph. So be it!" Lucario took a stance "I have yet enough fight in me to beat you too! With my new mega forme, you won't stand a chance."

Malispite activated Demon's Offence. Then, he dealt a blow to Lucario so fast and so strong, that the jackal was caught unawares and was sent flying through the ten meter thick ice wall. The ground cracked beneath them when Malispite's fist made contact, the walls shattered from the shockwave produced, and Mercifond very nearly fell into a crevice created in the wake of his punch.

With Lucario gone, the gem was theirs.

"I really didn't want to do that, that was your fight…" said the brown bat, returning to a brown color as the symbols disappeared "but we have our mission. Cheap or not, it has to be done."

"You-You-You-You…!" Mercifond was speechless. Just how strong had her brother become!? Then again, he was always crazy strong. But this was ridiculous!

"Here it is." smiled Malispite. His punch had distorted the room and knocked them gem over to a different area. He picked it up.

Suddenly Lucario was back, bleeding slightly and staggering in his run. He nearly fell over when he stopped, and the jackal was no longer in mega form, suggested he was severely weakened "D-Don't take that…! Need… paycheck…!"

"Sorry." shrugged the brown bat "Think of it as payment for what you did to us in detention." said the grudge holding malice pokémon.

Lucario's phone rang. Reaching into his ear, he plucked it out "H-Hello?"

A voice spoke to him on the other side of the phone. Lucario narrowed his eyes "Yes, it has. But I can still fight! I'll get it back before you-"

Lucario stopped in mid-sentence, while the twin bats watched out of interest. Lucario then gaped "Are you sure!? Why- ?" more silence. Then: "Okay… I'll tell them. But do I still get paid?"

Murmuring from the other end.

"Yes!" Lucario smiled "Okay, bye boss!" the blue jackal flipped the phone and stuffed it back in his ear. He told them what his boss Neon had just told him: that he understood the crisis in Almia, so he gave Lucario full permission to give the gem away to any members of Calestia he might encounter. He also said that Lucario would get paid anyway, and that he should go with them as backup. So, all was good.

"Cool." Mercifond was standing back up, "So um… you're coming with us then? That's good…"

"…" Malispite was watching the two intently. Mercifond shuddered, then quickly added "You know, so that we can hate each other even more!"

"S-Sure…" said Lucario, still dazed "L-Let's go… I need a healing move…"

"Sure. One question though: you were working for Agent Neon the whole time?" asked Malispite.

"Who?" Lucario replied.

"Uh, you know… the secret agent's secret boss? Codename agent Neon?"

A pause.

"OH MY ARCEUS!" realized Lucario.

* * *

><p><strong>MORAL OF THE STORY: AGENT NEON IS TOO AWESOME<strong>

Darkrai was thrown against a stone wall. He rebounded back and used Dark Pulse Punch on the gigantic Toyman, sending him flying back in the same way. The mechanical man growled, then summoned a lance and charged at Darkrai.

The prince of darkness charged right back and used a Dark Pulse Punch on the lance, breaking it, then followed up with an Ice Beam to the face. Toyman's vision was lost and he stumbled.

"You're a bit tougher now… but I still won't lose!" grinned Darkrai "I nearly have enough Manly Points to date Lopunny, I have too much at stake to lose!"

"You have what!?" Toyman grimaced back. He got the ice off and sight was restored "Never mind, Coil Cannon!"

He surprised Darkrai with two mounted electrical discharges from either shoulder. The prince of darkness in turn summoned two Dark Void's to absorb the attack. Anticipating this, the mechanical man charged back at Darkrai and knocked him off balance, which was all he needed to perform a Flash Cannon attack, which hit Darkrai directly.

The pitch black pokémon got back up. He wiped some dust from his mouth "Alright that's it. I'm ending this!"

The two Dark Voids suddenly twisted shape, becoming less massive and more condensed, then combined to form a circular ring, orange and white in color. Toyman took a step backwards, having never seen this before.

"Quasar Expulsion!" Darkrai yelled, throwing the disc a small distance and watching it blow up from the energy Toyman had put into it. The fiery explosion burned Toyman's armor, but did little damage. The mechanical man stood on his four legs unscathed.

But this was a distraction, as by then the black colored pokémon had already jumped above and prepared something special: his signature move.

"This is it…!" Darkrai could feel the dark energy around his fist- all of his training was about to come to fruition. Today, his signature move would be realized.

"ULTIMATE HELLFIRE APOCALYPTIC ABSOLIX DEMOLISHING FIST OF DETH!"

Darkrai made contact with Toyman's head and the resulting blow was tremendous to say the least. The walls on either side of their little arena shook and crumbled before Darkrai's power, Toyman himself sank two meters into the ground, where there was now a crater. The orange and grey man did not move, Darkrai landed on the ground.

"Damnit I messed up…" mumbled the prince of darkness. That wasn't his ultimate attack, not even close: it was just a concentrated Dark Pulse Punch really.

_"__Really? That's the name of your attack?"_

Darkrai stiffened. He frowned "Oh great…"

_"__You may not be at death's door yet, but that won't stop me from talking to my cute little host~!"_ said the voice in his head.

"Shut up…" mumbled Darkrai to Asmodeus.

_"__Anyway, you know what day it is? It's: 'give up your body day'. So how about it, give me your body so I can use it for a while!"_

"HELL NO"

_"__I'll be getting it anyway, it's just better sooner rather than later."_ grinned Asmodeus from inside Darkrai. The prince of darkness frowned, trying to block off his voice but only hearing Asmodeus' taunts in return.

_"__Give me your damn body!"_

"NO!"

_"__How about your brain!? Can I have that at least!?"_

"SHUT UP!" Darkrai yelled back.

"Who are you talking to?"

Darkrai swiftly turned around. Toyman was back up. There was a huge crack upon his mask, and electricity seemed to be discharging from random parts of his suit.

"Uh… no one. Especially not dead guys living inside my body." Darkrai quickly told him.

"Hm… well regardless…" Toyman tried to hoist himself up "It looks like my back half has been compromised. So be it…"

An invisible switch was flicked and suddenly, Toyman's back two legs were evacuated from the rest of his body. The orange and grey automaton now had two legs left, and he seemed to be proficient at standing up with just two.

"Of course I am." Toyman responded to Darkrai "The back half of me is entirely technological, used to boost my speed since I'm quite slow." another crack appeared in Toyman's mask.

"So what's it going to be?" asked Darkrai. The mechanical man gazed at him with almost sorrowful eyes.

"You cracked my mask, and now it's breaking. And actually, you broke my suit as well. I'll have to fight you without aid of my technology."

"So you give up?" the prince of darkness asked hesitantly. Another crack appeared.

"No. Instead you must surrender. If you do not, then you will die."

The mask broke off, and his suit cracked away with it. Darkrai gaped.

* * *

><p><strong>Citadark Island<strong>

At the rocky beach of the isolated island, four figures stood still as they prepared for the inevitable onslaught. One was a purple and grey dragon speaking to a hologram of God. Around him were a giant red phoenix, a dark grey and blue ice dragon, and a purple and pink colored swan.

"I'm asking where Rayquaza is." Palkia stated plainly.

_"__And I said he should already be there!"_ replied the holographic equine. Just then, a roar from the sky, and from another part of the island soared a green dragon. He dove to the ground but missed it just so, curling himself just above the rocks.

"I was scouting, thank you very much." Rayquaza snarled at Palkia "I think I've found Lugia."

"Good. With luck we can get him before he turns into that monster." Palkia growled. Arceus watching, the space dragon addressed the group "Listen up, all of you. Somewhere on this island is Lugia, who as far as we know is alive at the moment yet trying to kill himself.

He wants to do it so that he doesn't turn into a monstrosity capable of levelling Mossdeep in five minutes. We are talking about a class Five Legendary, one that will kill all of us and everything around him if we're not careful. His power is real and… we'll probably have to face it in battle in order to save Lugia from himself.

So here's what we do." breathed Palkia, eyes serious "Rayquaza and I will be on the offense, we'll hit him from the front and up close where it's most dangerous. Kyurem, stay at least 20 meters away from Lugia at all costs, support us with moves that slow his movement. Ho-oh, you and Cresselia will be our trump cards.

Ho-oh, take Cresselia on your back and continually shout at Lugia to snap out of it. With both of you, there is a good chance that we can repeat what happened 10 years ago and break Lugia's transformation."

The group of five was silent. Palkia breathed loudly. He was nervous "It should work like this. Lugia is still in there somewhere, I know it."

Arceus nodded her holographic head _"__And, I also have brought backup. With the power that I still have, I can send him there too."_

A portal in space-time opened from the Hall of Origin to Citadark Island, a huge distance of reality warping that could only be done by Arceus herself.

Something emerged from the portal, not a pokémon, but a human. He was an average looking black haired human male around 40 years old with a scarred and blind eye, he walked over towards Rayquaza and smiled.

The green dragon fell to the ground for the first time in eons. His jaw dropped to the floor "It-It couldn't be!?"

The human smiled at him silently, then went over and hugged the teary eyed dragon. Rayquaza responded by curling up next to him as they shared a special embrace. Lip quivering, the sky dragon asked Arceus in hesitant voice "Markus…!?"

Darkrai wanting to be Zero's trainer when he was younger was not a new event, but it was rare. The idea was that the Legendary Council was composed of all pokémon. This was partially false. Occasionally, a special human would rise up and have skill so great that it befitted the Legendarys. Sometimes, a Legendary would forms special bond with a human trainer and form a pair.

These humans were few and far between. It takes great skill and knowledge to keep up with the great battles a Legendary often faces. Additionally, trust was a major concern and without it, there was no way for a human to control a legendary pokémon. Lastly, because humans have a limited lifespan and most legends had the immortality gene… these trainers only had a short stint to command a Legendary before the natural cycle took them away. As a testament to this, Palkia and Dialga once had formed bonds with humans in the past, but they had died over three hundred years ago. The two refused to form another such bond with anyone else.

They were called Legendary Trainers, people so skilled and kind that they could command legendary pokémon and stand along them in the Hall of Origin. Markus was one of them, who had befriended Rayquaza. It was he and he alone who was allowed to command the great dragon of the sky. He was one of only two current Legendary Trainer's, the other being Manaphy's Jessica.

There was a reason that Rayquaza was so surprised to see him, the man had not ridden atop the green dragons back in over twenty years. During the great Rocket war of Kanto and Johto twenty years ago, Rayquaza was sent to combat the threat, but as a result his trainer was gravely injured. He had lost his eye and had been sent into a coma. Rayquaza and others refused to talk about him, because many assumed he was already a dead man, never to wake up.

Today, they had been proven wrong.

"Markus…" Rayquaza said his name again, just to make sure he was still there. The man looked upwards and smiled at him again, laughing without a voice. The injury had rendered his vocal cords useless, he could not talk again.

_"__I tell you, humans do wonders."_ Arceus grinned, _"__Agent Coder contacted me one day, and said he found a solution. After from what I gather, seven grueling days of failed operations, one finally succeeded. Markus has been awoken, though they could not fix his voice."_

However this was not an issue for Rayquaza- long ago the two had created a sign language system, so that Markus could command Rayquaza at high speeds in intense battles. Markus let go of the great green dragon and motioned Rayquaza with some hand gestures. Rayquaza responded in kind performing aerial maneuvers, until Markus gave the thumbs up that he was ready.

While Ho-oh, Cresselia and Kyurem were amazed at the level of partnership the two had, Palkia grinned "So, miracles do happen after all…"

_"__They do."_ beamed Arceus. Palkia stepped forth and addressed the group.

"We have three class Fours, two class Threes, a Legendary Trainer and one class Two with an emotional connection to him. I think we can do it."

_"__I know you can."_ beamed Arceus _"__My only regret is that I am not there with you…"_

Palkia nodded. Their mother, the God of all Pokémon, would make capturing Lugia a cinch since her power was unmatched. Yet, she was still trapped at the Hall of Origin. Arceus wished them all good luck, then her hologram faded away.

"Take us to him, Rayquaza." Dialga beckoned. The green dragon told everyone to follow him as he took to the skies once more with a rider upon his back. He flew in a certain direction, and the rest followed. Not five minutes later did they arrive at Rayquaza's site, a crumbled building that was once Cipher's lair.

Cresselia gulped, and followed the others to what appeared to be a basement area of the complex. She, like the others, were sensing strange aura readings from far down below. They floated down, down and down, until they were almost twenty meters below the surface. There, a tunnel.

"We'd best be cautious." Kyurem noted, "That tunnel lies directly under the ocean."

"Got it…" Palkia obeyed his girlfriend. He went in first towards the strange aura emitting from the tunnel, the rest followed. The pink swan almost could not believe the situation they were in, and had to remind herself Lugia's life was at stake to keep her not dazed from it all.

Finally, the end of the tunnel was reached. It was a gigantic space with a miniature waterfall. Lugia was there, strapped to a plethora of seals and chains to the point where only his head was visible.

"What the-?" Rayquaza asked "Lugia?"

"Seals?" questioned Ho-oh. Palkia and Kyurem took a closer look at these marks.

"I recognize them," said the space dragon, "these are slow acting EP sapping seals, as well as some slow acting poison ones and a lot to keep Lugia unconscious no matter what."

"Can we save him!?" blared Ho-oh.

"From this, easily enough." Palkia was well versed in the sealing arts, so he knew a couple ways to get rid of these "The real question is, what will happen when we do?"

Silence pervaded the area. Silently, Kyurem nodded at her boyfriend and backed up twenty meters. Markus made some motions and Rayquaza stepped forth. Ho-oh and Cresselia braced themselves.

"This is it." Palkia uttered an incantation and wrote some things on one of the seals with some of his energy. The seals began to dissolve on themselves, and the chains began to break. For a full minute the chains and paper that had bound Lugia continued to break. And then, Lugia was unbound.

The second he was, he opened his eyes.

"Palkia." he saw. He turned to the side "Ho-oh."

"Brother!" yelled Ho-oh, "We're here to save you!"

"You broke them." stated Lugia plainly, as if he couldn't hear Ho-oh "…I wish you hadn't done that."

Palkia felt his energy rise instinctively "Lugia… keep calm. We will take you back."

The white bird looked at him with ferocious eyes, one of which was red and beginning to turn a blackened purple "I am calm." stated he, "And that is the problem. I can kill you even while calm.

Why did you break my chains? They would have kept me bound."

"Lugia…!"

"Lugia!" Cresselia shouted. The white bird looked at Cresselia for a split second, but his attention was back on Palkia as quick.

"I'm not dead. You broke them." stated Lugia, the blackness on his face suddenly starting to accelerate "Now I have to… kill all of you."

The corruption spread to Lugia's entire body in an instant, and Lugia was no longer Lugia anymore. He had become that which Cipher envisioned: a perfect killing machine without remorse. A shadow pokémon so great that the world would quake at the mere mention of his name.

Lugia bellowed at them in an unholy horrific screech.


	27. Black Hole IV

Cresselia watched in horror as her idol and savior transformed. Not once did she see a look of serenity upon Lugia's face, rather it was one of anguish, rage, and sheer bloodlust. The pink swan could merely watch as the white swan turned into a dark shade of purple, as his eyes became blood red and filled with nothing more than the desire to hurt everyone once dear to him.

She watched as Lugia's Tidal Bell, which served to keep his emotions in check, cracked and broke into tiny fragments from the sheer strain of his dark aura. As Lugia's power level rose dramatically at the cost of his own life span. At this moment he could be considered a class Five- but with perhaps ten years left to live.

A small tear came from her eye as she remembered the kind and gentle guardian of the seas now twisted into a monstrosity hell-bent on destroying anything in its path.

Cresselia could already hear Ho-oh crying for his brother, drowned out by the screeching that was Lugia's roar. At that moment she made up her mind. She would see Lugia again.

She had waited ten years, and now it was time to bring him back.

* * *

><p><em><strong>PREVIOUSLY ON LEGENDARY PKMN:<strong>_

_"You… ruined everything!"_

_"Lugia decided long ago to not make anyone suffer from his curse- in the event that a cure was never found, Lugia would kill himself."_

_"Just call me Escodia."_

_"I'm not dead. You broke them._

_Now I have to… kill all of you."_

* * *

><p>Chapter sixty three: <strong>Black Hole<strong> (Act four: The Cursed)

* * *

><p>Deoxys and Cytosine sat on opposite fallen logs with nothing but the flickering flames between them. She could feel the warmth of the fire, and it comforted her in this time of questions and uncertainty.<p>

Why did Arceus willingly kill two billion aliens?

Why did she try to destroy the Xylph base?

Why did she cry after it meant her friendship with Helix was forever tarnished?

Cytosine silently gazed upon Deoxys. She had been sent to Earth as a spy initially, and for a long time this is what she had done. She had been digging dirt, finding information about Arceus. Even befriending her children. He could only imagine what this new information brought to light.

The red and blue alien had her eyes downwards and furrowed in confusion. She had aimed her deadliest attack at the Xylph base. Arceus had purposely launched an attack to destroy the evil group on their home planet, with the collateral damage of most of her people.

Deoxys did not know what to make of this so called God anymore. Digging deeper into her past revealed not the truth, but endless catacombs of mystery weaving in and out. An entire network of secrets. More discovery simply meant more questions.

"You know, that was how we found Earth in the first place…" spoke Cytosine after some time "The planetary civil war… the supreme queen had been desperate for help so she turned to the stars…

… and out of sheer luck, someone found our message."

Deoxys looked upwards at him. Was that really what happened? She couldn't remember…

"It was her who taught us how to use Moves and harness Energy Potential… That's why we were so confident we could win… why we sent such a large army to the Xylph HQ, who had no knowledge of this…"

"Which in and of itself…" Deoxys breathed "Doesn't make logical sense. If Arceus was really planning to destroy us all, why would she bother teaching us to be more powerful first?"

"…yeah…"

"Damn. Just when I thought I was going to get a straight answer for once…" sighed the red and blue ribonian.

"I take it you haven't a clue?"

"Less than before." dryly spoke the girl.

"…" Cytosine was quiet. What he had found made him question his beliefs. He had not told anyone about the discovery of the Xylph base, and instead went to the one being who may have been able to make sense of this confusion: the traitor, Deoxys. But it was apparent she didn't know anything either.

"…I probably shouldn't tell you this…" Cytosine began, "but something's happening."

"…what?"

"Something is stirring…" said Cytosine mysteriously "A big event is about to take place, I know it, but I don't know what or when. Just… soon."

"How can you be so sure?" asked Deoxys politely. Cytosine looked at her seriously.

"Absolix came to Ribos."

His words sent a shiver down Deoxys' spine.

"He fought with Helix over something, and Absolix won. Then he was gone…" Cytosine trailed off "Something huge is about to happen, Deoxys…"

* * *

><p>The great bellowing beast finally ceased its seemingly endless roar. It closed its blackened purple mouth and stood upright, wings folded to the side. It looked at them with its blood red eyes, as if trying to contemplate what they were.<p>

It was Cresselia who spoke first "Lugia-"

The instant she spoke was the instant she almost died. The great beast had flung itself to the direction of the noise at the speed of sound itself and launched its wing, a Steel Wing, at her like a knife poised to slice Cresselia in two. Ho-oh was just a smidge faster and pulled her back; Lugia's blade swerved centimeters from Cresselia's neck, it cut a rock instead and demolished a part of the wall.

It gazed at her with the intent to kill.

Water poured in when Lugia's blade was drawn back.

Palkia had seen enough and took action. He had already released his seal earlier, and so the space dragon was at full power in less than a second. As Lugia drew back his wing, Palkia warped right beside him and launched a ferocious Hydro Pump at point blank range.

Lugia either ignored it or simply could not feel pain anymore- he opened his mouth and summoned an Aeroblast more deadly than anything they could imagine. Palkia deflected it by bending space itself, and so the destructive whirlwind soared upwards to the ceiling.

They did not know it at the time, but they were in a large sea cavern that day. To be more precise, they were in an area approximately one kilometer below the surface of the ocean.

Lugia's Aeroblast had penetrated that far out and then caused the sea itself to quiver and retreat from his attack.

Palkia knew none of this, but did realize he had made a terrible mistake: they were trapped in an enclosed area below the sea. If Lugia caused enough unbiased destruction, the sea would simply swallow them and tons of pressure would be upon them in no time. Only Palkia and Lugia himself would be able to survive something like that. The rest, even Rayquaza were history.

Markus seemed to realize the same thing as Palkia when he heard the rumbling of the ocean trying to get in through Lugia's hole. With quick sign language he told Rayquaza to blitz Lugia with close ranged attacks, and the green dragon responded in kind by first firing a Flamethrower to get in close, then attacking him with several Dragon Claws.

Palkia paused for a brief moment "Change of plans! Everyone aside from Rayquaza, run for the exit!"

"But my brother-!" protested Ho-oh.

"The sea will end you if you don't!" Palkia roared just as a pillar of water crashed down from the hole Lugia had made. Kyurem stared worriedly at her boyfriend in fear "Palkia!"

"I'll be alright! Just go!" shouted the dragon as Lugia fired yet another one of his deadly Aeroblasts. Must more powerful than the original Lugia's, it tore apart Rayquaza's flesh like it was nothing, and even after the great dragon got away it seared straight through the rocky wall.

Palkia and Rayquaza, with the human guiding them, joined forces to try and defeat this new monstrosity. Lugia charged at the both of them with wings sharper than steel at speeds faster than sound. Rayquaza and Palkia reacted immediately, using their Dragon Claws against Lugia's wings. The three forces collided and it shook the room, the tremors cracking the huge cavern and causing more water to leak in.

Markus commanded Rayquaza with some quick signs at the corner of his eye. Rayquaza doubled the power of his Dragon Claw- an impressive feat considering who he was up against- and the amount of force made Lugia spin backwards and in that instant of confusion, the green dragon struck.

Rayquaza used Extreme Speed to close the distance between them in an instant that couldn't be measured. The instant this had been achieved Rayquaza twisted himself in a spiral and Markus leapt off his back.

The dragon had encircled himself with his own body and in a split second before Lugia reacted- Rayquaza unleashed hell upon him. He untwisted his body while letting his EPressure go wild, and using his Air Lock ability to distort the very air around him. What resulting from the distortion was a flame so grand it burst everything to a crisp. In fact, calling it a flame was incorrect- it was more akin to an explosion that warped the atmosphere itself.

Within this vacuum of no oxygen, Rayquaza's foes would be incinerated while the lack of precious air caused them to suffocate. A shockwave erupted from every pore of Rayquaza's body, and Lugia had been mad enough to challenge it. A new hole was erupted to the surface by Rayquaza's signature move.

The appropriately named Ozone Burst.

"Good! Now get out of here Rayquaza, Markus!" Palkia briefly spoke human again to relay his message. Rayquaza was about to protest but Markus silenced him and told him it was for the best. The sea was flooding in now, and the entire cavern was already two meters of water high and growing. Only Palkia would be able to survive the intense pressures of the ocean.

The green dragon wished Palkia luck and Extremespeeded himself and his trainer out of there. Palkia grimaced- Rayquaza's attack was ferocious, perhaps even more so than his Spatial Rend attack. Both suffocating your opponent, engulfing them in flame and giving them a concussion blast at the same time was nothing to be laughed at.

Which is why he was nervous. Lugia was staring at him with red eyes, charging up another Aeroblast attack.

The monster had formed a psychic shield around himself that was able to deflect the entirety of Rayquaza's move.

"Class Five huh…" Palkia muttered, charging up a Spatial Rend attack. Lugia was once called the world's strongest psychic when he was a class Four. What was he now?

Lugia roared once and fired an Aeroblast the size of his own body five times over. Palkia winced and hoped his own attack would be enough.

* * *

><p>"Palkia has to have some sort of plan! We wait outside until we find out what we can do to help!" Ho-oh regretted saying those words, for he wished more than anything to do back. But going back would mean peril, and it meant Cresselia would follow him.<p>

He, the lunar swan, and the ice dragon finally reached the surface. They leapt up from Cipher's broken lair and headed immediately towards the beach. Once there, they waited. Somewhere under those waves, Lugia, Rayquaza and Palkia were fighting.

Cresselia was silent, though the look in her eyes was that of worry. Ho-oh was about to try and cheer her up, but no words came from his mouth. He had no idea if they could stop his brother now. If he could even be cured.

All they had was hope.

Rayquaza joined them after an agonizing thirty seconds of no new information. He told them Palkia was still down there, fighting Lugia. He hoped Palkia knew what he was doing, facing Lugia alone.

And after another twenty seconds of waiting and sweating, there was a horrific crunch as the ground beneath the sea cracked under the strain of pure power. As the onlookers watched with interest, the sea suddenly caved in on itself just as Palkia appeared out of nowhere above the ocean.

"What did you do!?" demanded Ho-oh.

"I caused a cave in." said the space dragon as the sea formed a whirlpool that endlessly zoomed downwards. He had collapsed the entire cavern onto Lugia, then warped himself out before he took any damage. The phoenix was fraught with anger, asking if Palkia intended to kill his brother.

"If Lugia was able to be killed by that…" the space dragon said in a worried voice "Then I could have taken him alone."

An Aeroblast half the size of the island flooded their field of vision. Cresselia could only gaze upward and note that it never ended as it soared beyond the clouds. The others were wide eyed with terror, and Palkia held Kyurem's hand tightly.

The space dragon had expected to finish the whole thing inside the cavern, where there was no chance of civilian casualties. But upon realizing Lugia's monstrous strength, he was forced to drag the man into the open. Now, they had to keep him at bay in this small island.

"Here he comes."

After the initial blast the water began to morph itself along the white move. It twisted upwards in a spiral fashion until the beach they were standing on suddenly gained around a meter more land. It rained lightly. They gazed upon a super typhoon- a vortex of power so great that only Mother Nature herself could hope to match its size. The thing was as wide as the eye could see and towered above the clouds.

In the center of it was Lugia, eyes glowing bright red.

With but a single thought, the typhoon moved land bound.

"Shit!" Palkia cursed as he warped himself the eye of the storm. If that hurricane reached the mainland, the class Three's and Cresselia would be done for. Simply obliterated. Markus had also noticed this and relayed a message to his partner.

"He thinks we have ten minutes before the hurricane reaches here." growled Rayquaza. He looked at his human companion nervously. The black haired man understood Rayquaza's concern. He quietly told the green dragon to abandon him here and fight with Palkia.

Who, in that instant, was expelled from the typhoon by a remarkably strong Aeroblast.

Rayquaza nodded once and took off to meet with the space dragon. Kyurem, Ho-oh, and Markus watched them enter the eye once again.

"I can see how Lugia destroyed a city the size of Mossdeep now…" said the wide eyed Kyurem, worried "Palkia…"

"He'll be fine." Ho-oh was quick to assure her "But, at this rate…"

Their plan was falling apart. Ho-oh and Cresselia had been assigned the key role to awaken Lugia from this dark side, and yet with the black swan inside a deadly hurricane, their chances of being heard were zero.

Cresselia was beginning to cry again. Lugia could not be saved. He was going to die here for certain, Palkia and Rayquaza would have to kill him… or else they and possibly millions more would pay that price instead.

"There must be something was can do from here." Kyurem's eyes rose with determination. She glanced at Markus- humans were the ones with the crazy ideas after all. Markus merely stood there with his chin rested upon his fist, thinking.

Then he had one.

Quickly he tried to remember sign language and hoped he could communicate to the pokémon by the old fashioned way. Luckily Kyurem and Ho-oh had studied the art, and even Cresselia knew bits and pieces of it.

"The eye of the hurricane!?" questioned Ho-oh, using his talons for a makeshift version of sign language "What does that mean?"

He tried again. Hurricanes were vicious, yes, but in the center of these ferocious storms was ironically enough, a stable center. In it was calm and serene sky. If they made it into the eye of the storm, then they would be safe from the whirlwind and allow Ho-oh and Cresselia to try and bring Lugia back.

"Is he serious? No wind in the center?" asked Kyurem incredulously.

"If he's right it could work…" Cresselia pondered "But only I and Ho-oh can fly. Kyurem and Markus…"

Kyurem quickly translated. Markus held up his hands again: He and Kyurem would get to safety and see if they could think of anything else. She and Ho-oh would have to go without them.

"Good luck, he says." Kyurem told Cresselia. The human gave her a fake smile, trying to be genuine. Cresselia nodded her head once.

"Boy, do I regret being a fire type now…" grimaced Ho-oh. He could put up a strong barrier, a Light Screen, to surround himself and Cresselia while diving it at top speed. On one hand they could reach this serene center Markus spoke of with minimal damage. On the other hand the vicious wind and rain may very well be enough to shatter his protection and kill them both.

Ho-oh was willing to try. Cresselia noted that she too knew Light Screen, and so the two could synchronize moves and increase survivability. The lunar swan went atop the fire phoenix once more, and Ho-oh soared offshore. He put up a Light Screen and Cresselia added her own light screen, creating a purplish barrier surrounding them both.

Ho-oh increased his speed and Cresselia strained to keep the barrier up. And then, in seconds, they were in the winds. The massive storm tried its best to destroy their pathetically weak shield, but in the end Ho-oh was just too fast. As the barrier cracked open from strain, they made it into the heart.

As Markus said earlier, the eye of the storm was calm. A sigh of relief followed from the both of them. Higher in the clouds were Palkia, Rayquaza, and Lugia. The dragons looked weak and tired, and Lugia was still brimming with a dark aura.

Ho-oh and Cresselia soared up to aid in the final battle.

* * *

><p>No one had ever seen Toyman's true face before. Not Arceus, and not even Escodia knew his true identity. This was because Toyman, as Darkrai recently learned, only used robot versions of himself to complete his missions.<p>

What is known is this: The one pokémon on the planet who did manage to glimpse what was under Toyman's mask was left drooling in his wake. Somehow, some way, that one poor creature was left in a permanent comatose state after seeing Toyman's face. Reduced to nothing more than a vegetable.

Escodia knew this. That is why he enlisted Toyman's help to capture Darkrai- so that the mechanical man could subdue the prince of darkness. And if by some chance his robots weren't enough, Toyman could use his mysterious insanity related powers to take down Darkrai and drag him into the void.

After all, while the pokémon was but a vegetable, with some minor electrical shocks and knowledge of the brain those scientists studying him could make him do anything. A perfect puppet, which was good for the mysterious pokémon in Blake Hall's office.

But not even he could have foreseen what would happen next.

Toyman's mask broke. Its pieces fell to the floor, exposing the man behind all the robots.

And Darkrai began dripping in cold sweat.

How could a pokémon make robots? Pokémon weren't smart enough to do that, with one major exception: a clone of Absolix who had been gifted with extraordinary intellect, who made machines daily.

How could a pokémon be reduced to a vegetable? Because Toyman's powers obviously affected the mind of the creature. Perhaps it was that Toyman's full psychic potential was so great he could not hold it back, and so anything that came in contact with him had their brains scrambled.

Darkrai's first cold sweat hit the ground.

The purple catlike man faced the prince of darkness, with a stern look in his amber eyes.

"So, it's come to this." stated Toyman. He jerked off some of his broken armor, revealing three fingered hands with balls at the end of them. He discarded the gloves to the ground uselessly "Do you feel it yet?"

"M…M…" Darkrai gasped, "Mewtwo!?"

"Mewtwo can't save you now. My sensors indicate he's not even remotely nearby..." replied the purple catlike creature.

"Mewtwo what the hell are you doing!?" gaped Darkrai, shouting at this point.

Toyman gave Darkrai a confused look. He discarded another glove and asked

"…why are you looking at me like that?" the feline swished his tail, "You seem to believe that I am Mewtwo."

"What the hell kind of game are you playing!?" Darkrai frantically screamed, freaked out by Mewtwo's demeanor "What's going on Mewtwo!?"

"Ah, of course." said Toyman, confusion gone "My powers must have already set in. He probably thinks I've turned into his beloved older brother. Ah well. Coil Cannon."

A burst of electricity shot at Darkrai, who was still in such a state of shock that he took it full force for a full second before dodging. That was Mewtwo. That was Mewtwo. It had to be, all signs said that this was him. Why was Mewtwo fighting him!? Why would he pretend to be someone else!?

It suddenly hit Darkrai all at once- Toyman had been active for the past ten years. The year before, Mewtwo created his first robot servant. How on earth did Mewtwo track them to Zero's ship with little to no guidance? Because he already knew they were there. Why did Mewtwo hide his face and pretend to be Toyman?

Because he sincerely believed he was.

Mewtwo was insane.

He attacked an illusionary Absolix and caused the three keys to escape. He ran away from them because he felt as though he would kill them all. He thought himself a creature that shouldn't exist.

And now, he had developed another personality. As impossible as it seemed, there was another Mewtwo that no one knew about- his name was Toyman.

_"__Well ain't that a twist…"_ snided Asmodeus inside Darkrai's mind _"__Looks like Mewtwo's just too broken to fix."_

"Shut up!" Darkrai took action and sent a Dark Pulse in Mewtwo's direction, but the armored man used his 'power over technology' to lift up his discarded armor and blocked it.

"I almost feel sorry for what happens next, but, then, I need the money." said the Toyman. Another Coil Cannon was fired at Darkrai, who used Dark Void to counter it and, though it pained him, smashed his fist into Mewtwo's face.

Grimacing, the man took the blow and used his telekinesis to surround Darkrai with his discarded parts. With a quick command, the parts exploded with Darkrai still inside. The prince of darkness fell to his knees, heaving from the pain. Darkrai even screamed a little.

"You can't win now." sighed Toyman, "No one can while I don't have my armor. And that's why I am a force that cannot be on the side of good nor evil…"

Darkrai was in pain. He was in so much pain, but he would fight to snap Mewtwo back to his senses. The explosion had hurt him, a lot more than he thought.

… Then again, why did it hurt so much? The pain Darkrai felt didn't cease. In fact, it seemed to be increasing. An irrational amount of pain seemed to be everywhere, even in the places that Darkrai didn't get hit.

"Has the pain finally reached you?" asked Mewtwo "Yes Darkrai, why does it hurt so badly? Why can't I recover from this? It is all due to my curse."

"Wh-what!?"

"When I first learned of your existence, I was genuinely intrigued. You and I are similar, Darkrai. Those around you experience nightmares, a horrifying curse indeed. Yet, mine is worse still.

Those around me simply feel pain. Just pain. And it gets worse the longer you are close to me."

The saying "pain is all in the mind" is a half truthful statement. When the body is injured in some way, nervous receptors pick up on this and relay the information of injury to the brain. The brain then responds by sensing hormones to fix the problem, but also relays a message: that what you have experienced hurts.

This serves two purposes: one, to heal the wound. It is much easier to heal if the injury in question remains in a static state, which in turn is aided by a hurtful sensation when one tries to move it. The second is to make sure you do not perform the action that made you get the injury again, for survivability.

Mewtwo's curse was different. Instead of actually causing injury, it simply caused the brain to fire off its pain response without any damage. The pain was all in Darkrai's mind, but he could not stop it from hurting.

"Yes…" Mewtwo kicked Darkrai around, who was so intoxicated with pain that even he could not move "Behold, Darkrai! You think optimism can get you anywhere in this world!? What about me, who was cursed from my birth to inflict pain upon countless pokémon just by existing!?"

His face went up to Darkrai's "Do you see these scars…?" he pointed to his face, which was of course, free of scarred tissue "These are from those who have tried to kill me in the past. Some almost succeeded.

…Although I admire your want to try and befriend me, I also find it incredibly naïve. You cannot even move in the state your in." Mewtwo fired off a Flash Cannon at Darkrai, who bounded across the floor leaving a trail of blood.

"Nothing will change. Nothing can be done. Accept it, and accept your defeat."

Asmodeus was silent, but Darkrai could still feel his thoughts _'__He's right. Mewtwo is so insane, there's no way for anyone to fix him. And what did Darkrai think would happen later?_

The stronger he becomes, the more potent his nightmares. He'll just turn into another Mewtwo and curse himself for being a monster.

It's like I've been saying all along. There are those destined to do good, and those destined to do evil.'

realizing Darkrai could hear him, Asmodeus spoke truthfully and loudly:

_"__Light is Light, and Dark is Dark. No one can change that."_

Darkrai let out a scream of defiance and launched a Dark Pulse at Mewtwo. It was so horribly aimed that the man didn't need to dodge it. Toyman launched a Coil Cannon at Darkrai's chest in retaliation, and the prince of darkness fell to the floor and blinked out of conscious.

_"__That's just the way the world is."_ were the last words he heard.

* * *

><p>Before Kairi stood an empowered Mary Tzu. More precisely, her bloodline ability 'Overpowered' had activated, increasing her strength ten times over and giving her immunity to negative side effects of her mixed ancestry.<p>

She was obliterating Kairi and loving every minute of it.

The brown haired girl tried to summon her Styler but Mary Tzu swatted it away in an instant then knocked her to the ground. Ruby tried to launch Psychic in succession in order to hit Mary, but she was so fast and powerful that nothing could damage her. In a mere minute Kairi and Ruby had gone from the victors in this battle to pitifully flailing weaklings, all thanks to Mary Tzu's ability.

Rand could only watch in horror, unable to do anything except send his daughter away. Dr. Alakazam has also sent his daughter away, and did not wish to fight such a monstrosity. Trueman was the only one brave enough to stand up, trying to use his mysterious powers to subdue the Sue- failing, thanks to Mary Tzu's Overpowered ability.

Some part of Kairi told her that this wasn't fair. A part of her brain lamented the fact that Mary Tzu was so perfect, so strong and so beautiful, while Kairi was born just an average human with an average job. They were an entire world apart.

Kairi shut up that part of her brain, and instead remembered something from a book she had read, an unknown quote:

_"__You think you're stronger than me? Okay. You have more moves and energy than I do? Fine. I don't care if I'm weaker than you. Life ain't fair. I'll just find a way to beat you regardless."_

Mary Tzu laughed and picked up Kairi by the shirt, reveling in her own power. From that arrogance Kairi struck- she immediately let go of her first Styler and summoned the one had hidden within her pockets. It was a fire Styler that had the attack Ember. Ember wasn't a very good attack, but Kairi was able to supercharge her Styler an instant and rush Mary Tzu point blank with an inferno.

"Ruby!" Kairi shouted. Her gardevoir partner quickly slammed Mary into the ground with Psychic and again with a Focus Blast attack.

The buxom girl yelled in anger and launched a horrifically big Roar of Time at Ruby. The blue haired gardevoir did not get back up. Kairi shouted in vain, but Mary Tzu was already next to her and elbowed Kairi to the ground. The ground cracked, and so did a few of Kairi's ribs.

"Quite being such a bitch…" Mary Tzu placed her Dialga turned foot on Kairi's back "and kneel."

Kairi's face was full of dirt, but she managed to get out one word: "Never."

Mary Tzu kicked Kairi all the way to her fallen partner, each bump giving Kairi a dizzying amount of pain. The girl was nearly unconscious but she could hear Mary scream "I'm better than you! I'm stronger, I'm beautiful and you're NOTHING!"

Mary inhaled and continued "You stole my rightful place as savior of Oblivia! You did it because you were JEALOUS! And now… now we see you for what you really are, a groveling weakling who has no right to even stand next to me! The only reason you continue to defy me is because you're so goddamned stupid and jealous! OPEN YOUR EYES!"

Mary stomped on the ground purposely, and destroyed Kairi's former poison Styler. The Sue expected Kairi to give up. She had nothing left, no more tricks, no more energy and not even a friend left. Briefly peeking to the side, she saw that Rand, Dr. Alakazam and the like weren't going to help her. This was appropriate, Kairi had to take this punishment on her own.

But what she couldn't understand was why they gazed at her with such horror. Mary was a perfectly benevolent being in every way, she only used violence as a last resort. How could they be scared of her!?

"Stop it!" Trueman tried for the umpteenth time, tears in his eyes. Mary Tzu ignored the boy, unaware that she had become immune to his powers of persuasion. She gazed back at Kairi, she should have been on the ground begging for forgiveness. Instead, she was laughing.

"So that's how it is…" Kairi uttered a brief laugh, a small amount of blood on her mouth "You really are deluded."

"I'm perfect." stated the Sue dangerously yet cutely.

"I just realized something…" Kairi spoke, trying to stand "I don't even need to win this fight."

"What!?"

"We got into an argument because I thought you were crazy... Well, now look at you. You've resorted to trying to beat me half to death just to get me to shut up." Kairi's words made the pacifist Sue flinch "You couldn't settle our differences by talking, no, you have to silence me permanently because that's all you know how to do."

"Shut up!" yelled the Sue in a crazed manner

"And that's why I don't need to win. Because I already have." Kairi explained, "No matter what you do to me, no matter what you say to me, I will never accept you as being the better person.

And there's not a damn thing you can do about it."

**_"_****_SHUT THE FUCK UP!"_** the air became tense and a massive amount of energy was summoned into the area. Mary's mind was too deranged to work her Stylers, so they fell to the ground uselessly. Mary began charging up an energy sphere containing the powers of Dialga, Palkia and Giratina. The ground beneath her quaked, the heavens above her shook, and the sphere became larger and larger.

Mary Tzu intended to bury Kairi six feet under. Rand yelled for her to stop, but by then it was too late. Kairi merely acknowledged her certain death with a smirk on her face, a defiant look that only served to make Mary angrier.

"Do as I planned, Ruby." Kairi spoke softly.

_"__Okay!"_ said a telepathic voice inside her head. Ruby's eyes shot open as Mary Tzu screamed in unholy fury. She launched the house sized sphere of antimatter and spatial/temporal distortion at Kairi with blind fury. This incredibly attack which could wipe things from existence altogether was defeated by a simple, basic attack:

Teleport.

Ruby warped a mere two meters next to Mary Tzu and stuck her white paw on Mary's forehead. Kairi summoned the Styler that wasn't broken and placed it atop Ruby's head.

In an instant, a mild shockwave came from the three of them as Kairi and Ruby activated their abilities. Kairi fell to the ground.

So did Mary Tzu.

Kairi was on the ground, gasping and in complete pain while Mary lay on the ground untransformed, and completely knocked out. Ruby called for help from the onlookers, who had become agape with awe. Kairi had just defeat Mary Tzu.

"What was that!?" Rand yelled, running over to Kairi. The girl was in too much pain to speak, so Ruby spoke for her. As Dr. Alakazam started supplying energy to Kairi for healing, Ruby grinned widely

"It was resonance!" smiled the girl.

"Vat the-? Vat does that mean!?" asked the confused evil scientist.

Ruby elaborated: she had never been unconscious, but she had been very weak. So when Kairi was kicked over to her, she had been able to communicate telepathically with Kairi. The brown haired ranger had come up with another plan.

After realizing the potency of Ruby's telepathic abilities, Kairi had reasoned that the blue haired gardevoir could send mental signals to Mary Tzu. Kairi's Styler was a device that was used to calm down pokémon by minor thought manipulation. They combined Telepathy with Kairi's Styler to resonate with Mary's Tzu thoughts, and then, thanks to Ruby, distort them.

The result was a mental shockwave that made Mary's brain crash.

"When did you have time to come up with that!?" Rand demanded. However, he realized that they did have time- thoughts travelled much faster than sound, and Kairi's taunting would have given them enough time to do it.

"You clever girl…" Rand smiled "You were just stalling for time then!"

"Well, I meant every word of it…" Kairi looked at the unconscious Sue, "but yes, I was stalling. I've known her all my life, and I know how arrogant she can be."

"But zis begs ze question!" said the doctor, afraid once again, "Vat now!? Vat vill ve do vhen she vakes up!?"

Admittedly, Kairi had not thought that far ahead. To be fair, coming up with an idea of that magnitude and executing it while being injured and under fire didn't give much room for any other thoughts on how to survive. However this still left the root of the problem: that the mental shock wasn't permanent, and when Mary Tzu woke up she'd attack Kairi again. Next time, Kairi might not get so lucky.

"Vait, I have an idea!" said the evil mad scientist. Without waiting for permission, he slowly levitated Mary Tzu upwards, psychokinetically dragging her. As Rand and Kairi watched with interest, Dr. Alakazam then placed the unconscious Tzu into none other than his homemade rocket ship. The boosters remotely fired up.

"Wait, you aren't planning to-" Kairi began, but stopped herself "Eh, she deserves it."

And with that, the alakazam lunched his rocket ship up into space with Mary Tzu in it, never to be see again until arc four forever.

Kairi let herself be carried by Rand back to the infirmary, while Ruby was carried by the telekinetic doctor. Truman was crying tears of joy, while Nema and Aureen shouted congratulations. They had done well, and Oblivia was finally safe. She hoped that the others were doing just as well in Almia.

* * *

><p>Toyman silently mended some of his broken technology to form an average looking cellphone. He dialed it and put it to his ear: "The deed is done. Have my payment ready."<p>

_"__I'm… actually coming over there myself. You had me worried Me- Toyman."_ replied Blake Hall from the other side.

"Yes, Darkrai nearly beat me until my mask was torn off. I trust you have sufficient preparation so you won't suffer the same fate?"

_"__I'm wearing the golden armor right now, that should be enough."_

"Indeed." sighed the psycat, "Then I will-"

Out of the corner of his eye, Toyman detected movement. The purple clone turned his head and saw the impossible: Darkrai was standing up.

"…One moment." Toyman hung up the phone. He stood upright and casually walked towards Darkrai "I'm surprised you can stand. The pain must be unbearable."

Darkrai said nothing, but he was breathing heavily. Agony was on his face, or at least, Toyman assumed so. In reality Darkrai's eyes were lifeless, as if he was standing up on principle and not his own free will. Toyman slowly built a rudimentary cannon and pointed it at Darkrai's body.

With a surprising jolt of motion, the prince of darkness swiped the cannon away.

"Both of you listen…" his voice was haggard and raspy. He was straining himself "I… I am sick and tired. I am sick and tired of being told what I can and can't do."

The prince of darkness addressed both Mewtwo and Asmodeus. Both watched with interest.

"I can't befriend you? Light and dark can't mix? I'm destined to do evil because of who I am…?" he said with an angry tone "No."

He gazed up at Mewtwo finally, a look of sheer determination upon his glowing blue eyes "If there is no way, I will make one."

"How?" questioned the delusion psycat "The pain you experience will only increase. And even if you get out of this alive, you'd just turn into another me."

_"__He's right."_ Asmodeus spoke, _"__It's better to just-"_

"NO!" Darkrai screamed, shocking the both of them "I refuse to give up! Because they never gave up on me!"

Toyman's eyes flashed- a memory of Darkrai being out of control, trying to kill all of them. Toyman questioned how he had this memory, but Darkrai interrupted his train of thought.

"I was in pain once before." Darkrai stated "I wanted to lash out at the world, I wanted to be normal and in my weakness I nearly killed my best friends.

But did they stop!? Did they abandon me!? They did not. My friends are the greatest pokémon to have ever existed- they acknowledge me despite my nightmares, they talk with me knowing they'll be abandoned by the school, and possibly the world itself!

Toyman! My friends never gave up on me, so following their example, I will not give up on you!" finished the prince of darkness. The purple psychic was astounded. Wide eyed, the Toyman hesitantly asked

"But… but it hurts…I hurt people!"

"I think the pain I have now…" Darkrai gasped "is far less than the pain you've experienced from being alone."

Toyman's eyes widened.

"So I'll bear it… for your sake." Darkrai grunted, "And to the other guy… well here's the thing. You think darkness is pure corruption? Fine, that's your limit then.

Me? I'll smash that limit into tiny pieces!"

Darkrai lashed out at Mewtwo, a Dark Pulse Punch into his stomach, knocking the man backwards. The mere contact of Darkrai's fist with Mewtwo's stomach made him yell from the pain, but he took it in and kept pounding. Using his nightmares, released once every second to himself, Darkrai was able to stay conscious and even subdue some of the mental pain.

While Toyman could not comprehend that someone was trying to reach out to him, Asmodeus was there in Darkrai's heart with his jaw to the floor. In a split second he witnessed the courage and determination that Darkrai held to his false brother, the bond between him and his friends, and the drive to win no matter what the cost. Despite all odds being against him, he continued to fight his own fate and insisted there was a light at the end of it all.

It was at this moment did Asmodeus have an illicit thought- which he quickly shrugged away and returned to his bleak cynicism.

_"__He's a better man than I."_

Toyman fired a Coil Cannon straight at the prince of darkness, who summoned a black hole to absorb it. Darkrai knew he could win- so long as Mewtwo thought he was another person, he also believed his power was no more than a class Three's. He fired a Dark Pulse, a Shadow Ball and several Double Team clones at Toyman.

The psychic responded in kind by shielding himself to avoid most of the damage, only to find that Darkrai had turned into a shadow, slipped through his defenses and delivered a great uppercut back up by darkness energy to Toyman's jaw.

Falling to the floor, Toyman yelled in a rage and fired everything he had at Darkrai and didn't let up. Beams, missiles, energy blasts, all from his discarded armor and even a few Psychics as Toyman unleashes his latent power to subdue the prince of darkness. Darkrai took some, dodged others and tried to make his way through to Mewtwo.

"You can't possibly win!" screamed Toyman above the noise "No one can understand me! No one can realize what it means to be a false life form with no free will!"

Toyman gasped- where did that last sentence come from? But to Darkrai it fell on deaf ears. For in a final burst of darkness energy Darkrai leapt and demolished the beams, cannons and blasts, hitting Toyman straight into the stomach with a Dark Pulse Punch.

The purple psycat fell to the floor, finally defeated. Darkrai stood upright- in pain, but significantly less than before.

"You… have to keep your promise…" breathed the dark type "You have to… talk to my mom…"

Toyman had no retort. He had been beaten, both in body, mind, spirit and even ideology. He had utterly lost against this man. The inconceivable had happened: a man had defeated him for the sole purpose of wanting to befriend him.

"Hey… It's not so bad anymore…" Darkrai briefly flashed back to Gardevoir, reflecting upon the current situation "now that you're all out of power… your curse must have stopped working… right? And hey, even if it doesn't, I'll get used to it."

"I will… I will continue to harm you!" Toyman brought one last retort.

"Then I will keep reaching." Darkrai told his brother "I will always reach for your hand, like they did to me."

Still on the ground, Toyman realized that maybe, just maybe, Darkrai was right. His curse had made him alone this entire time, and no one had bothered to reach out to him like this. Was it possible to reform himself…?  
>The prince of darkness stood over the fallen psycat, waiting for an answer. Before Toyman could respond, another voice interrupted him<p>

"…You really are impressive."

Darkrai couldn't understand human languages, but the tone of the voice was threatening. He whipped around and saw Blake Hall clad in golden armor. He had been standing there for some time, a chopper on the cliff above.

"Who are you…?" Darkrai asked tensely. Blake Hall could not understand Darkrai, so he merely raised his hand.

In an instant, Darkrai felt the quintessential urge to obey this man. Completely attend to his whims, no matter what they were. For he was but a speck of insignificance, destined to only serve this man until he perished.

Darkrai recognized this was mind control and snapped himself out of it, retorting with a Dark Pulse. It was not aimed properly, and missed the Dim Sun leader. Replying in kind, Blake Hall amped the power of his golden armor.

Darkrai fell to the floor, screaming and thrashing; not from pain, but to try and fight off the golden armor's power. As Blake inched ever closer to Darkrai, the prince of darkness could feel his free will fading away. Clutching his head in a vain attempt to block this abominable power, the dark type did his best to fight off this mind control. In another moment, the screaming ceased. There was no light, and no sound. After two minutes of exposure to the armor's extraordinary power, Darkrai finally stood up.

An orange spiral was above his head.

"Alas, your power means nothing next to mine." Blake smiled. He turned to Toyman "Though you failed to defeat Darkrai, I will still pay you half of what we agreed because I feel generous today."

The Toyman was silent. As of this instant, Blake Hall held absolute power of him- an accusation of how unfair it was would result in him being just like the prince of darkness. He spoke in fluent English: "Very well. I'll expect it soon."

"Ah, one more thing." Blake Hall eyed his unconscious Sinistrio "If you would like, I have more jobs for you."

The purple psycat ran some calculations "How much?"

"Well, since I am about to take over the world and my operation should not be allowed to fail…" Blake Hall paused "How about… a trillion poke for starters?"

Toyman widened his eyes. He'd never have to work again "I accept. I will help you take over the world."

"Good!" smiled Hall. After all, a class Four, even a delusional one, would be a nice thing to have on his side. He turned to his new subject "Pick up the shadow crystal for a start and meet me at the chopper." Darkrai wordlessly obeyed and moved to the corner of the cavern. Toyman gathered the unconscious trio, and the five of them headed back to the helicopter.

The destination was Altru Tower, a giant conductor disguised as a business project that could spread the shadow crystals power across the entire country. With an entire army of pokémon at his disposal, Blake would have enough firepower to take down anyone.

And Darkrai couldn't care less. All that mattered was serving his master. He plucked the shadow crystal in one heave and began dragging it.

* * *

><p>The typhoon Lugia ad created steadily moved land bound. The eye of the hurricane was also moving, which meant Ho-oh had to keep his guard up and move with it- else the winds tear him limb from limb.<p>

"Lugia!" Cresselia yelled. The black swan responded in kind by blasting Palkia with a horrendously strong Aeroblast. Ho-oh and Cresselia stayed a distance of 15 meters away from Lugia, shouting at him all the same. Their efforts appeared to be futile, Lugia paid them no more attention than a speck of dust.

Instead, Lugia had concentrated his efforts to defeating Palkia and Rayquaza- who were throwing everything they had and more at Lugia. Cresselia herself had never seen such a great battle before- Palkia warped both himself and Rayquaza constantly to avoid Lugia's attacks. The space dragon had developed a mental synchronicity seal to let them communicate by thought.

Rayquaza was the heavy hitter, unleashing Fire Blasts that could destroyed entire neighborhoods, Dragon Claws that could shred fifty meters of solid steel, and of course his new signature move: Ozone Burst, which was a destructive technique the likes Cresselia had never seen.

Palkia provided the backup- each time the green dragon was about to be hit, Palkia warped him away. When Rayquaza was done charging his attacks, Palkia warped him in close. The space dragon himself would launched reality distorting moves at Lugia as well, their combination seemed flawless.

Yet this was not enough to subdue Lugia who, thanks to the shadow crystals powers, was an unstoppable behemoth capable of tanking all the aforementioned while retaliating in kind with Aeroblasts from any direction, Steel Wings, Recovers to heal himself, and even Psychics to disrupt their moves.

Yes, thanks to the power of the shadow crystal, Lugia could burn away his own lifespan to temporarily become more powerful. And this was the last concern that the group held: how much life was Lugia shaving away every second he tried to kill them?

Even if they turned him back to normal… how much time would Lugia have left before he died anyway?

This no win situation, coupled with Cresselia's ineffective callings, caused her to cry. Ho-oh was equally scared, tears were from his eyes as well. All of them, even Rayquaza and Palkia called for Lugia to come back to them.

Lugia responded by screeching, then doing something no one thought possible:

Rayquaza warped in and unleashed his Ozone Burst upon the black swan, its destructive power creating a supernova in the sky. Lugia absorbed every single bit of damage. His energy had dropped from over 500,000 to zero in a split second.

At that moment, Cresselia realized they were doomed.

In the split second Rayquaza unleashed his move, the damage was already done. Palkia warped Rayquaza away, but the distance did no good. The green dragon screamed in pain as pink and purple bursts of raw energy exploded from within his body.

It was the attack that Lugia had taught Cresselia, and his other signature move- Refraction. By reducing your Energy Potential to zero, and establishing a psychic link with the target, it allowed one to use the opponent own energy against them. The gradient created from zero to whatever your opponent had caused energy to leak from the target in a violent manner. It was a technique that was harsher the stronger your opponent was.

Rayquaza, who was a class Four, stood no chance against this technique. The explosions did not cease, the green dragon was experienced immeasurable pain as his body convulsed and twisted while he screamed in agony. Palkia in desperation attacked Lugia, who in an instant summoned his energy back to its previous class Five state, ending the move and firing an Aeroblast into Palkia's shoulder.

Though the move had ended, the damage was done. Rayquaza's flying was less ordered, his breathing was heavy. Struggling to soldier on, Rayquaza was then hit by an Aeroblast from Lugia while Palkia screamed in horror.

Rayquaza dropped.

The space dragon warped the sky dragon away to Kyurem. It was now one versus one, and Lugia had Palkia on the ropes. The space dragon stood no chance alone.

So Cresselia performed a final, desperate act to win Lugia back.

She leapt off Ho-oh's back and soared towards Lugia, screaming at him. For once, the shadow pokémon was caught off guard as Cresselia wrapped herself inside Lugia's feathers "Lugia! Come back!" she wept "I've waited ten years and I won't see you become a monster!"

The shadow pokémon charged up an Aeroblast. Palkia was too injured to move, so he could not stop Ho-oh from flying in front of him "Lugia! Don't do this! Don't kill yourself from my mistake! Come back to me!"

"Lugia!" screamed Cresselia. Her screams were met by Ho-oh's and Palkia's. The Aeroblast charging was enormous already and soon it would reach critical energy. They shouted, they shed tears, but Lugia continued to charge the flying move, directed to pierce through his brother and Palkia.

Their shouting never ceased, even as Lugia fired his Aeroblast. Cresselia knew it was all over. She saw the pale white beam of flying energy zoom towards Ho-oh.

Then, at the last minute, it shifted. The Aeroblast changed trajectory launched itself at the sea, creating a large water blast.

Lugia's eyes were blank and red, but he had diverted the attack.

There was still a chance.

Lugia began to charge up another Aeroblast, and the three set to work.

"Lugia!" Palkia shouted "You are my comrade in arms, my friend and my mentor! You were the strongest there ever was, so snap out of it and come back to us!"

"My brother, even when all was lost you never gave up on me, and now I won't give up on you!" shouted the fire bird "I have finally achieved my dream of becoming legendary- but it is meaningless if you aren't there beside me! Come back!"

"Lugia, you saved me! You saved me from Zoroark, from Schrocat!" Cresselia cried "You can't leave me now, I still need to learn so much from you!"

"Come back!"

"Come back!"

"Come back to us Lugia!" shouted everyone at once. The Aeroblast had once again reached critical energy and was ready to be fired. They cried for Lugia to stop, they cried amidst the Tsunami edging ever towards them. They cried for Lugia, the strongest psychic in world, to turn back to normal.

Cresselia gazed up at Lugia, hoping for a sign. The Aeroblast now was five times what it was before, a massive beam that could easily kill everyone if the black swan fired it. The lunar swan looked up at her savior, begging for him to come to his senses.

She saw something. She saw Lugia smiling.

A single tear came from his eye.

"L…Lugia…?"

The black swan screeched and kicked Cresselia away. Then, once Cresselia had dropped fifty meters, he fired his Aeroblast. The Aeroblast was not aimed at Ho-oh or Palkia, it missed them. It then began to swerve under Lugia's extraordinary psychic powers. It swerved until it did a complete u- turn, and Cresselia realized in horror what Lugia intended to do.

"LUGIA!"

Palkia and Ho-oh had seen through Lugia's plan just a tad too late. The blast had completely swerved and was fired at full speed at the smiling black swan. Ho-oh shouted madly and flew towards his brother, but was quickly pushed back by psychic power. The fire bird saw Lugia's smile, and then the Aeroblast made impact.

Without any shields, the furious wind tore Lugia's body to shreds. The beam encompassed Lugia's entire body ten times over, while the onlookers cried out for their beloved swan to return. The Aeroblast had done a thorough job- when the beam ceased, Lugia's body was covered in holes.

Blood spurted out from some areas.

In a soft voice, his last words were spoken:

"I'm sorry."

The black swan fell. The shredding of his skin and feathers, as well as bone and muscle, the complete destructive power of his own attack had demolished Lugia's body. The black swan fell.

Ho-oh and Palkia, as well as Cresselia flew to intercept Lugia. Though they didn't see it, the typhoon supplied by Lugia's power was growing weaker by the second. The fire bird and the space dragon clutched the black swan into their arms. His red blood covered their arms.

"Lugia! Lugia!" yelled Ho-oh. Eyes closed, his brother was at peace "Lugia!" screamed Ho-oh, tears streaming down his face. When Cresselia caught up to them, she saw Lugia and bawled like she was a little girl. Palkia could not find a pulse, or even a tiny ounce of energy potential left in Lugia's body. The space dragon began to sob as well. Their mission had failed completely.

Lugia was dead.

* * *

><p><strong>- Arc three "Shadows" end-<strong>


End file.
